


Number Fifteen

by Deviant95Raven



Category: Bleach
Genre: Child Abuse, F/F, F/M, Gory details of injuries and deaths, Human Trafficking, I don't know everything about anything, I'm Sorry, M/M, Mentions of Rape, Murder, Rape Recovery, Slow Burn, Substance Abuse, Very fluffy fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:00:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 12
Words: 58,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26987869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deviant95Raven/pseuds/Deviant95Raven
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki, stolen after birth, was forced into a world he had no choice in, fleeing from that life, he meets an assassin that takes him in, teaches him all he knows so he can one day get his revenge. Along the way he catches the attention of the FBI and a special agent with blue eyes. As he hunts those who harmed him, he will find where he wants to be, and that not all touch is painful.(I might change the summary once i get something better in mind, for now I'm coming up empty.)
Relationships: Grimmjow Jaegerjaques/Kurosaki Ichigo
Comments: 46
Kudos: 136





	1. Chapter 1

Okay, this will be a pretty dark story, there is rape but I skim over it so don’t worry about reading a rape scene. It might feel like I am rushing this but I will be coming back to the ‘past’ in flashbacks and so forth. There will be death, kidnapping, torture, mention of rape and its recovery, sex trafficking, child abuse and substance abuse. There will be death as well, detailed killing and so on, very gory you see. So, excuse the lack of detail for now it will be better explained later on. Thank you all for the time to read my story.  
Disclaimer, I do not own Bleach or any of the characters, this is all for the sake of writing and having fun while writing (Not the horrible things that will happen though.)

Chapter 1

It was late into the night, almost a new day when a baby with a head of shocking red hair was born, his wails filling the room as the nurses took the baby to be cleaned while the mother was tended to.

It was this late night that tragedy struck.

Babies, barely a few hours old, vanished. Stolen from their cribs, the nurse dead on the floor, blood pooling around her cooling body.

It broke the news within the hour, mothers mourned the loss of their child, fathers demanded answers, that their children be found but it was never meant to be for they were lost, it is easy to hide infants who only care about being fed and held.

The investigation into the stolen children turned stone cold as there was no trace or speck of evidence of the stolen children, the country mourned, hospitals strengthened their security but the damage was done. Sixteen families lost a loved one.

Hidden away in an expensive house, miles away from the grieving families, were the stolen babies. Tucked deep into the basement, cold cribs and colder hands.

“Are you sure this will work?” A voice asked, uncertainty clear in their voice. Their answer was a grunt laced with annoyance. Heavy footfalls follow as weary eyes look down at the small child, his face scrunched in fear as no one was around to give him the comforting touch he craved.

Days turned into months as the babies were fed and cleaned but were given no love, no soft soothing touch.

When the investigation went cold, they moved.

Deeper into the hustle and bustling city where people can get lost oh so easily. A rundown apartment building was bought, the inside refurbished to suit their needs. The top floor was for them, their rooms lavish and comfy, with beds to sink into and deep baths to wash away the day’s grime.

The few floors down, they were remodelled into training rooms, from guns, melee to acrobatics but down in the basement lived a secret, barred metal ‘rooms’, cold concrete floors with no windows except for the doors. It was there in the dark that the babies were kept.

Their health important, they were given the best food and clothes, kept warm at night. No need to have their new investments die off.

As the babies grew into toddlers, they were kept on a strict diet, no sugar, no processed food, they were ‘encouraged’ to keep as active mentally and physically as possible.

Sadly, this turned dire for some, hidden illnesses and accidents caused two small souls to perish. 

Their bodies left to be found at the hospital, their birth records attached, it brought the city to a halt as the case for the stolen children was reopened, the two families broken, saddened that their loved one’s life was cut so short.

The case ran cold shortly after.

Time passed and the toddlers grew into children, their training started in full. They were forced, some broke, falling behind and getting injured. Their small bodies couldn’t keep up and soon slowly one by one died.

One child however stood out.

He was the strongest, he held out the longest, he was the quickest and the smartest and by far the most mature.

He was their hope, he was what they strived for when they started their investment.

He was number fifteen.

That became his name when he was the last one standing, the last one breathing.

________________________________________  
Number fifteen looked around his room he had been living in for the last eight years, the small square shaped box that it was. As he looked around, his shaggy red hair fell around his shoulders. 

The big boss man wouldn’t let anyone cut his hair short, his excuse was that his long hair could be useful one day, useful in what way, Fifteen wasn’t so sure. His bed was decent enough to stop him from having bad night’s sleep and developing back problems. The door that lead upstairs creaked open.

Curious by the following sniffing and shuffling sounds, Number fifteen stood and walked to the door. Standing on his tippy toes and hands on the window bars he pulled himself up high enough to peek into the hallway. Number fifteen was just able to see two men walk in with a line of children walking in behind them.

Deep amber eyes watched as the children who looked a few years older than him get shoved and pushed forward. A boy stood out for Fifteen, his hair was blond and cut in an odd bowl like shape, his lip was busted and his eyes were looking around wildly, almost as if he thought there was a way out.

Fifteen watches as the children are one by one lead to their new rooms, there was screaming, pleading and crying. All sounds Fifteen was used to by now.

The doors slammed shut and Fifteen sighed and walked back to his bed but, before he could sit down, his door was opened.

It was a grunt standing there, his face one marred from one too many punches.  
Nothing was said, Fifteen knew well enough he was to follow to where ever it was he was being taken without argue, talking led to punishments.

The hallway had always been a constant for Fifteen. The long empty hallway was lined with small ‘rooms’ on either side till the end, on the end of the hallway was a different door. Fifteen didn’t know what was behind that door, he had never seen anyone come from that door.

Going up the flight of stairs lead Fifteen to the melee training room. 

Fifteen was prepared for another day’s worth of training and maybe being allowed to have a shower. What he was met with however, was Tsukishima, the cold man standing alone in the room, his signature blade at his back.

The two stared at each other silently.

Tsukishima watched Number Fifteen silently, the child was everything they wanted to far but the cost was too high. It was the reason they now grabbed older children, they could still be broken in, trained.

They had their perfect weapon right here.

The child was lanky, they made sure that the child had a well-balanced diet and got enough sleep. They ensured he was taught not only in a number of martial arts and weapons, he was also taught maths, physics, biology and more. He was to be their perfect assassin and so far, the child was well on his way there.

Now the child had a true test in front of him.

Watching the child, he took in the long shaggy mane of hair, the large almost doe brown eyes looking straight ahead. Tsukishima noted that Fifteen seemed to be curious enough about the break in his routine to look around occasionally and it pleased him that the child was still as attentive as he had been from the start.

Knowing that the child would not ask a question, Tsukishima mentally groaned at how long it took Riruka.

Just as he was about to call her the door opened with a loud bang. Fifteen having long since lost his flinching behaviour only allowed his eyes to look when he spotted Riruka’s magenta hair in the corner of his eye.

Amber eyes watched as Riruka all but drag a man, his head covered with a sack. His feet slipping out from under him in his fright while he made strange muffled noises. Fifteen could smell the pungent odour of urine from the man, he was unable to keep his nose from scrunching up in disgust.

It was something small, Tsukishima allowed it as he sympathised with the child who seemed to have a sharp nose. The smell was almost too much for him as well. He stayed silent as Riruka kicked the man behind his knee to make him kneel in front of Fifteen.

The child had a curious look in his eyes but again, he would not ask. 

Tsukishima took in a deep breath before he reached behind him to reveal he had a gun behind him, twirling the gun around his index finger till he held the barrel in his hand, he held it out for the child.

Fifteen took the gun and looked up at Tsukishima questioningly.

“Shoot him.” The man’s cold emotionless voice filled the room as he ripped the sack off the man’s head. He was wide awake, his eyes large in their fear as he looked at the child in front of him, his eyes gaining a wet sheen as he tried to scream through his duct-taped mouth. It explained why the man only made grunting noises since coming in.

Examining the gun, Fifteen saw it was a standard 9 mm pistol. The safety was on, releasing the clip he noted that one bullet was already in the barrel. Slipping the clip back in, Fifteen looked at Tsukishima as he sightlessly turned the safety off.

“Shoot him in the head Fifteen.” Tsukishima ordered. He would push the child but he knew that it wouldn’t be a quick deal, this would be the child’s first kill and it always left a mark.

Amber eyes looked back at the man, he was shivering, screaming behind his tapped mouth. He tried to get up but Tsukishima had a hand on his shoulder and Riruka a foot on his calf. Fifteen looked the man in the eyes. They were dark, almost too dark to make out the brown, his face was lean, he looked to be in his middle thirties. Idly as he raised the gun, he wondered what the man had done to deserve being shot.

Tsukishima clicked his tongue, a sign he was getting impatient, it usually ended with him getting a punishment. 

Not wanting to be hurt again, his amber eyes gone weary as he flicked his gaze at the two standing adults, Riruka looked somewhat uncomfortable, her gaze off to the side. Tsukishima must have seen he was scared as he allowed the frown between his eyebrows to lessen, he gave one jutting nod.

Taking in a deep breath, Fifteen looked the man in the eye, aimed and pulled the trigger.

________________________________________  
Fifteen was allowed to take a shower, a prize for his first kill.

His first kill.

The words made him feel sick.

He didn’t understand why but when he was finally allowed to be alone in the shower, he couldn’t keep it in any longer and became violently ill. The running water masked the sounds of his retching. His eyes squeezed shut, still replaying how the man’s eyes widened in realisation, how the bang of the gun was loud and echoing. How the bullet penetrated the man’s skull, his aim was slightly off but he hit the target anyway, he was too close to miss. His mind replayed how the man’s body slumped like a marionette doll with its strings cut.

The blood that exploded behind the man’s skull and the blood that dripped out from the entry wound. The glassy look on his face afterwards.

The putrid smell of his stomach contents was quickly washed away but the feeling of loss Fifteen felt remained with him as he slowly got up, washed the grime from his body and dried off as best he could. His new clothes sitting folded on the bench.

Getting dressed, Fifteen opened the bathroom door to see a different grunt waiting at the door.

Fifteen was led to the back of the building, a van waiting, Tsukishima sitting in the front. Nothing was said as Fifteen got into the van, he knew were they were going. It wasn’t new and he expected it after his shot was off.

An hour later and the van stopped at a shooting range, it was suited for all calibre of guns from pistol to rifles.

Tsukishima didn’t berate Fifteen for his lacklustre aim, he knew the child saw it once the ringing of the gun shot finished ringing around their ears. The way the child lowered the gun and stared at the hole. It was still more than he thought the child could do. He was honestly expecting a worse shot.

The small round hole was an inch to the left of the man’s forehead.

He watched as Fifteen went about his training as he always did, started with pistol first, he did spend an extra half an hour on it however. Then he went onto smaller revolvers. They had been slowly upping the guns, Fifteen was still too small to handle shotguns and rifles for now, he was however taught how to dismantle and clean them, proper gun maintenance was key.

After this they went back to the apartment building. 

Tsukishima kept a closer eye on Fifteen, he was as silent as ever but he seemed more subdued, his mind elsewhere. He chalked it up to his first kill.

When they came back, Tsukishima had a grunt take Fifteen back to his room while he went down the hallway to the wooden door at the end of it.

Knocking, he heard a voice on the other side speak.

“Enter.”

Kūgo Ginjō was a tall man, while he had more bulk on him compared to Tsukishima, his skin was fair like his own and while both men had long dark hair, Kūgo’s was slicked back and Tsukishima’s was allowed to low as it pleased.

The man’s dark eyes gleamed when they looked up from the screen of his computer.

Tsukishima knew what he was watching, the computer screen would reveal a multi split screen of camera feeds. All aimed at keeping an eye on the facility they had but Tsukishima had started to notice that Kūgo had been growing more and more focused on Fifteen.

What was going on inside the man’s head, he wasn’t so sure but the look he caught in the man’s dark eyes gave him a chill down his spine. He might be a murderer but the look Kūgo was giving Fifteen was starting to concern not just him but Riruka and Jackie.

“He did better than expected.” Tsukishima murmured, his eyes taking in how Kūgo’s eyes kept flickering to the screen.

The man hummed a pleased note, his hand moving to the desk drawer. Again, Tsukishima knew what the man was reaching for. Taking said object, he nodded at the seated man before he left with a sharp turn, he didn’t want to be near the man when he had that look on his face.

Walking to Fifteen’s room, the new children had silenced mostly, there were no more screams, there were only a few quiet sobs.

He saw a blond head peek up through the bars of his door, he paid it no mind.

Entering Fifteen’s room, he found the boy reading. It was one thing that put him apart from the other children, Fifteen loved to learn, he was a sponge. Any chance he had, he read.

Fifteen put his book to the side and stood, clearly thinking they were about to head off somewhere else again. Tsukishima handed the object from Kūgo’s desk to the boy.

The eight-year old looked at the object. It was a box, wide but flat. It was painted a near black brown with a silver clasp at the front. Taking the box, Fifteen walked to his bed and placed the box on the bed.

Inside sat a mask.

The mask was a stark bleached bone white. The eye holes were slightly slanted and looked like it was glaring back up at him. There were three red lines that started from the left eye hole and continued on till the cheek. The mask had a toothy grin. Over all it looked demonic.

Confused, Fifteen looked up at Tsukishima.

“This is your mask, from now on you will train with this mask. When you are ready, you will wear this when you go to take your targets down.” Tsukishima watched as the child looked back at the mask and stare at it. 

A thin hand reached up to stroke the surface of the mask, a blank face on Fifteen’s face nothing new.

Slowly Fifteen nodded his head to show he understood.

Somehow Tsukishima believed him.

________________________________________  
Shinji shivered on his bed with his body bruised. He had a healing cut on his arm from when Lisa had she managed to hit him.

The adults were not happy with their progress apparently. They kept mentioning a fifteen and how he was better and younger. They commented how they might have chosen children too old but then another would remind them that the younger they went the higher the mortality was.

He had no idea what any of it really meant, he had not idea what this fifteen was.

A door opening made Shinji stand and peek out the window of his door. He saw the other child then for the first time but he gasped when he saw the child was wearing mask, it looked scary and had him fearing the child.

He was a few years younger than him but it was when the boy walked that Shinji got a full body shiver down his spine. No child he’d ever seen walked like this one did.

The boy all put prowled as he walked, his bare feet not making a single sound. Shinji watched as the boy was led by the grunt, nothing was said, the boy wasn’t chained like they were, he wasn’t putting up a fight.

Was this what the adults wanted them to become?

Shinji just felt his soul sink with dread.

The days passed and more and more bruises littered their bodies, Hiyori had gotten a pretty bad injury and was punished for it. They were getting weaker and weaker. Shinji could see their resolve break down each day.

Then one day.

One day it all came crashing down.

It started off like any other day but when Fifteen, as he had learned the identity of Fifteen was the child, was taken to the wooden door at the end of the hallway. He walked past their doors, they all watched as the child walked past, his silent walking made even more unsettling by the mask he never took off.

________________________________________  
Riruka sighed as she left the back door open, she knew she was betraying her organisation but she didn’t agree with what they were doing, children were never meant to be tortured, she also feared what Kūgo would do to Fifteen, he was so small, he was such a beautiful baby and even more beautiful child with a blank face. She knew he didn’t even know what candy was, what a hug was. All touch he ever got was pain.

She walked away from the door and gave the signal, a sharp nod before she walked to a van parked just away from the apartment building. She wouldn’t be going to prison for her help, the fact that she never actually broke any law worked in her favour but she would be watched for the rest of her life.

It was a price she was willing to pay.

The armed men stood at the door as their team leader gave last minute orders. They were FBI, they were well aware of the situation.

Or so they thought.

In the room behind the wooden door Fifteen’s world was shattered.

He hurt in a way he had never been before. He could feel the blood running down his thighs as Kūgo shoved his now flaccid penis back into his pants. Fifteen watched from tear stained eyes as the man sat back on his chair with a pleased groan. His eyes raking over Fifteen’s bruised body. 

Fifteen felt violated, he felt he was robbed of something, he didn’t have the energy to lift himself off the dark wood desk. His arms were bruised, his wrists bruised from the handcuffs he still had on, they were ripped open, the skin torn and blood oozing out.

His mask laid beside him on the desk.

“You better get used to this Fifteen.” Kūgo purred around the cigar he lit, the bright orange tip flaring as he pulled in a lung full of smoke, his hand grabbing his ankle, his pants still hanging off of his other foot.

Before Kūgo could do or say anything else an alarm blared to life, the room plunged into red light. Kūgo swore and stood, the cigar was sat on the ashtray. The man glared at him and hissed. 

“Stay here.”

The door was slammed shut.

Wasting no time, Fifteen tried to move, his bloody wrists slowly lubricating the metal cuffs, with more squirming and a bloody bitten lip later and his hands were freed. Fifteen allowed himself to slide off the table with a cry of pain when he landed on the floor. His legs shaking as he pulled his pants up with great difficulty. Looking around he saw filling cabinets, a laptop and a bookcase filled with books. He spotted a small window above a filing cabinet, it was small but he was sure he could fit through.

The first gunshot made him flinch, his nerves on end already, the sound made him move. Hissing as he went. Fifteen looked around and saw the laptop bag, he dragged it closer and shoved the laptop inside, he was going off of his years of training, he knew how important laptops and information was. He glanced at his mask and grabbed it as well.

Dragging the laptop bag to the filing cabinet Fifteen tried to see if it was open. It wasn’t.

Looking around, Fifteen spotted the dark leather jacket Kūgo wore, he had draped it over his chair… before he did whatever it was he did to hurt him.

The gun shots started to come closer. There was yelling, he could hear the other children screaming in fear.

Fuelled with fear and pain, Fifteen yanked the jacket off the chair, knocking the ashtray over and sending the still lit cigar into the trashcan and frantically searched it, he found a set of keys, some small enough to possibly be the keys to the cabinets. After a frantic episode of tyring all the keys, Fifteen got them all open and made himself a step ladder. As he walked up the ‘steps’ he saw a file named ‘Fifteen’.

The smell of burning paper made Fifteen look up in horror, the trashcan was now ablaze and the table and computer slowly being engulfed.

Fifteen could now hear thundering footsteps in the hallway.

“There is a fire!” A man with a deep voice billowed out. The door suddenly jolted as a body made contact with it.

By then Fifteen had blindly grabbed the file and stashed it into the laptop bag and was now standing on top of the cabinet when the door was brought down with a bang. Looking over his shoulder, Fifteen saw a man dressed in full black, he had boots and baggy black pants with belts and pockets, he had a bulletproof vest and a black mask over his face with a helmet covering the top of his head. There was just enough space for Fifteen to see the man’s vivid blue eyes widen in shock as he took in what must have been a sight to see.

An eight-year-old, bloodied thighs and bruises with their hands ready to pull up on the window still.

“Wait!” The man yelled and started to make his way over.

Fifteen scrambled up the wall and out the window before the man could get to him, his hand hitting the window still where his foot was just a few seconds ago.

“Shit!” The man bellowed and ran out the room, the desk breaking apart before other men came in, one holding a fire extinguisher. The man ran up the stairs and out the door but when he got to the alleyway the boy was gone.

“Shit.”

________________________________________  
Zangetsu walked between the always, his client happy and thick wad of rolled up bills safely in his breast pocket. 

There was a ruckus a few alleyways away that made him pause in his steps, frowning, he strained his ears to try and hear. All he heard was gunfire and yelling, a siren or two as well. He was about to step back and go another route when he felt a small impact.

Looking down he saw a child no older than eight lying on the ground. His eyes instantly catalogued the bloody thighs, wrists and lip along with bruises all over the body. He noticed that the child was clutching a laptop bag of all things.

Two large teary eyes looked up at him in terror before they rolled back and the child passed out. Zangetsu looked the child over to see if he could see any serious wounds but nothing showed on his arms and torso.

Casting a glance around, Zangetsu gently lifted the child into his arms, the laptop case slung over his shoulder, it was heavy.

It took him longer to get to his home, he chose the longer route, whatever the child had been running from had come from the direction he was headed in. 

Once at home, with the locks tightened and secure, he gently placed the child down and looked him over. For an eight-year old he looked almost too thin, like the child was constantly on the move.

Getting the first aid-kit, he opened it but paused, he wasn’t not the gentlest man. Nodding to himself he walked to his phone. A few rings and the recipient answered with an ever-cheerful greeting.

“Ah Zangetsu~ How odd for you to call me at such an early time.” Zangetsu listened to the man talk, he could hear a faint sound of concern hidden in the cheerful tone. Taking a deep breath and looking at the child on his couch he looked back at the wall.

“I need you to come over and bring your medical supplies.” 

There was silence as the other side stayed silent for a few seconds.

“Who’s hurt?”

Zangetsu smirked, he knew that he made it obvious that he wasn’t the one who was hurt.

“A child, I believe him to be around eight.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

________________________________________  
Urahara released a pent-up breath when he arrived at Zangetsu’s home. The man lived in an apartment just a few minutes away from his own shop, the man used it as an in between spot for his jobs.

Where the man’s actual home is, Urahara wasn’t privy to but he understood that a hitman would want his personal haven kept safe. The in-between-home was just a cheap apartment downtown, top floor fifth door to the left, right next to the fire escape.

Knowing on the door, he didn’t even have time to drop his hand fully when the door was opened and he was ushered inside.

Of all the things Urahara was prepared for, the state of the child he was greeted with was not it.

“What happened?” Urahara asked as he rushed to the child’s side. Taking in the damage he could see before his eyes noticed the blood on the child’s inner tights, it was dry and starting to cake off.

“I was on my way back when he ran into me, he passed out shortly.” Zangetsu knew Urahara wouldn’t ask more as he started to check on the child. He watched as Urahara took care of the boy’s wrists first, cleaning them and bandaging them. After that he poked and probed the boy’s ribs to check for any broken or cracked ribs. A relieved sigh left his lips when he found none.

Then came the difficult part.

“I will need a towel.” Urahara watched as Zangetsu left the room and come back with a soft, new looking towel. He knew not to mention it, Zangetsu for all his intimidating stature was a big softy when it came to children.

With Zangetsu’s help they got the child on the towel and removed the pants. Urahara hissed in sympathy while Zangetsu’s face darkened with anger. It was a feeble hope but it was a small one.

“How bad is it?” Zangetsu asked after a short while, his back turned.

“He will be in some pain for quiet some time.” Urahara murmured softly as he looked back at the pants the boy had been wearing, they were bloody but still in good condition otherwise.

“Mind washing this?” He handed the pants to the taller man. Zangetsu nodded, he knew how to get blood out of clothes, it helped that the pants were dark in colour. Once the pants were cleaned and dried Urahara gently put them back.

Two hours later and both men looked to the couch, the child having groaned in pain. They both stood and stepped closer to the couch. Zangetsu stopped Urahara from getting closer by grabbing his arm, the man looked at Zangetsu with questioning eyes but he just shook his head.

Urahara looked back at the child in time to see two amber eyes squinting open before they widened quick and alertly looked around to see them. He watched in shock as the child moved, he knew the child was on pain but he moved into a crouched position on the couch.

The two men watched as the child looked around warily, his whole posture stiff and ready for action.

“Who are you?”

The boy’s voice was soft, but still the voice of a child but it had no sound of innocence as he asked, his tone one of suspicion.

Urahara looked at Zangetsu to see the man giving him a look.

Well he was the more friendlier looking between the two.

Smiling wide and whipping his fan out of seemingly nowhere he looked the boy in the eye to see his confusion but he was still weary, his eyes trained on the fan more than anything else.

“I am Kisuke Urahara and this is my friend Zangetsu, do you remember him? You ran into him after all?” The two men watched as the boy looked at Zangetsu, seeming to try and remember what had happened.

“Yes, I remember.” The boy looked at Zangetsu when he asked his next question.

“Where am I? Where did you take me?” 

“My home.”

________________________________________

I’m not the best at editing so if I made a blunder somewhere please inform me, just don’t be an arsehole about it please.  
Thank you for taking the time in reading my story.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, chapter 2. As you’ll no doubt see, I have taken some liberties to change a few things about the characters, either their looks or personality. I have made both Grimmjow and Nnoitra a bit calmer, they would never be able to be in any type of police force.

Again, it might seem like this is going nowhere but I promise it will start to get interesting next chapter, just bare wit me please. 

Chapter 2

Marshal Jaegerjaquez sighed as he closed and locked the door. Leaning against it he couldn’t help the smile that came to his face when he heard the pitter patter of small feet racing towards him. Looking up his smile grew. Nel came charging into the room as fast as her short legs could manage.

Bending down he scooped her up and kissed her cheek. Her small arms wrapped around his neck in a hug.

Looking at the doorway again, he saw his wife leaning against the doorway with a small smile but it faded when she met his eyes. He knew she saw the turmoil in his blue eyes. Her wheat coloured eyes grew worried, her long brown hair tied in a messy bun swayed as she jerked her head to the side, indicating she wanted him to come deeper into their home.

Still carrying his little one, Marshal walked into the main room of the house and smiled at his son who was sitting at the table frowning at his homework, the Jaegerjaquez family frown present as always.

Setting Nel down on the ground, she scurried off to finish her drawing she was busy with next to her brother.

Nel looked just like her mother apart from her teal hair she had her mother’s eyes and easy-going attitude. Grimmjow was a carbon copy of him, from the hair to the eyes all the way to the attitude.

Walking into the kitchen he leaned against the kitchen bar and watched his wife work on dinner, she was stirring something in a rapidly boiling pot. His mind was elsewhere however, his mind replying the moment he came into the room. The burning room, only to see a small child. Probably a few years younger than his own son.

The bruises and blood covering the child made him nauseous.

It must have shown on his face as his wife was in front of him in an instant.

“Bad day?” She asked somewhat, her eyes full of concern.

Marshal just sighed and rubbed a hand down his face harshly, to try and wipe the images from his mind. 

“Selene… today was more than a bad day.” He sighed out soft enough to keep his children from hearing. Selene blinked a few times, she knew her husband had a difficult job on a good day, but something worse than what he would classify as a bad day? She had yet to hear it from him.

She just pulled him into a hug, hoping to sooth his frayed nerves.

Marshal hugged his wife tightly and spoke into her neck.

“We raided an apartment; we were given an anonymous tip on a trafficking ring.” Marshal sighed a deep bone-weary sigh.

“They were the ones who kidnapped those babies all those years ago.” Marshal felt his wife stiffen in his arms. She arched away from him to look him in the eyes.

“Did you catch them?” She asked, a hopeful tone to her voice. Marshal sighed and tilted his head back and forth. He released one hand from holding his wife so he could stroke her cheek.

“We only managed to catch one, a woman. That’s all I can say for now.” He watched as his wife slumped, when the news broke about stolen babies, Selene was two months pregnant and it had hit her hard, she had clung to Grimmjow just to make sure their child was safe and when Nel was born she was slightly if not justly paranoid.

“And the children?”

Selene watched as her husband’s face morphed into a painful grimace. His grip on her tight as he thought about what he could and couldn’t tell his wife. Looking down at her, he gave a sharp release of breath through his nose and nodded to himself, it would be in the news the next day.

“We found the children kidnapped a few months ago but…” Marshal released his wife and looked behind him into the living room to see that both his children were now watching them from the dining table. Nel looking cheerfully on but Grimmjow was a smart boy and could tell that something was wrong. His brows frowned as he looked back and forth between his parents.

It clicked then that it looked like they were arguing, after Nnoitra’s parents separated, Grimmjow had become somewhat fearful.

Marshal turned around to face his wife who looked even more worried.

“That one child that was never found? The baby?” He watched his wife nod her head slowly before her eyes widened in horror.

“They..d-“ Marshal shook his head quickly to stop her sentence.

“No, when we stormed the place one room was on fire, the door locked. I knocked the door in and found the kid, he should be eight now. Selene, he was bruised and bloodied.” Marshal kept the fact he saw blood down the boy’s inner tights, didn’t want her to know that.

“Oh no…” Selene sounded so heartbroken.

“He crawled out the window before I could reach him, he was so scared of me. When I got to the alley next to the apartment he was gone.” Marshal knew Selene could hear the utter defeat in his voice. 

The sound of hissing water made them both look over to the stove to see the water boiling out of the pot. Selene hissed a faint curse and made for the pot. Grimmjow coming into the kitchen made Marshal look down, the boy was looking up at him with questioning eyes.

Marshal smiled at his son and ruffled his hair, it got him an annoyed ‘Hey!’

Working together with his kids, they got the table set and had a delicious dinner, Nel talking a mile a minute as always, it was a sense of normalcy that he needed, his night was surely to have nightmares. 

________________________________________

Fifteen looked at the two men after they explained to him how Zangetsu had found him, or rather how he found Zangetsu. Urahara explained that for the time being he could stay with either of them till he healed.

“Why should I trust you?” The two men looked at the child, they didn’t really have a reason the child should trust them, clearly the child had been hurt by an adult or rather adults.

Zangetsu looked at the child for a few seconds before he stepped closer and kneeled so he was eye level with the child. He looked into the amber eyes of the child and he saw the same eyes looking back at him. It occurred to him then, that this child was a killer. 

“Because I see myself in you.” The child blinked at him before the child looked him in the eyes, dark brown meeting amber. Something must have clicked for the child as his eyes widened. The child looked away first, his hands gripping his pantlegs.

“Let’s start with a name?” Zangetsu asked softly, his deep voice a grumble when he talked softly. The child frowned and tilted his head to the side.

“I don’t have a name. I have a number.” The two men looked at each other and frowned, a number of all things.

“Is that what you were called?” The boy nodded as if it was just how it was. The boy’s eyes brightened as he remembered. He looked around till he saw the laptop bag on the kitchen table. Seeing where the boy’s eyes landed Urahara brought the bag over.

Both men watched as the boy opened the bag and pulled out a slightly crumpled up file with the tile “Fifteen” stamped on in black.

The boy handed it to Zangetsu to read.

Zangetsu opened the file and felt Urahara move to stand behind him the both read the file. The first page was a blank birth certificate, creditable and still useable. After that was a detailed explanation of what the child had been put through, the ‘trainers’ thoughts and opinions. 

Both men were appalled by what they read but it also explained why the child acted they way he acted. When they came to the end of the file, they were shocked.

‘Child Fifteen, Level four, Final test: First Kill – Successful.  
The child was hesitant at first but after years of training he has picked up signs as to when he is testing someone’s patience. He knows mine well enough from experience. His shot was somewhat off but he still killed the target. Overall, it was successful and we can now start with level five training.’

Urahara looked at the child to see he was looking at them, just watching them as if that was what he was taught to do. He noticed that after surveying the room the child did not take his eyes off of them.

“Do you know what these levels are?” Urahara couldn’t help but ask. The child nodded his head once and explained.

“Level one was balance and…” The child frowned as he tried to remember the right words the adults used. “and motor skills. I had to learn letters and numbers but also to watch the world around me.” The child tilted his head to the other side.

“I was told to always be aware of my surroundings, to watch people.” The child shrugged, clearly not yet told why he had to do so.

“Level two was something called muscle control and memory building and we were also taught maths and language. Level three was swimming and basic martial arts and for me it was also gymnastics. Biology and Science was fun.” A sheepish look came onto the boy’s face as he admitted it, as if showing a like to something not truly connected to killing was frowned upon.

“And level four?” Urahara asked, somewhat scared of what the answer was.

“Gun and blade training. Basic body language and stealth.” The boy looked nonchalant as he spoke about what sounded much like brainwashing. How the child was taken and forced to become some type of super solider.

The two men looked at the child, truly looked at him then. How thin he was, how he didn’t talk like a child, didn’t think like a child. Urahara could guarantee that the child had no type of true childhood.

Slowly but surely those big doe eyes started to droop.

“I have a spare bedroom you can use.” Zangetsu spoke, the boy’s eyes snapping open and to him. The boy seemed to think on it, his mind going through the options he had. The boy nodded his head and slowly got up, the corner of his mouth twitching in a faint grimace.

Urahara moved to his medical kit and rummaged around, a detour to the kitchen and he stood before the child, a bottle and spoon in hand. The child looked at him wearily. Smiling sadly, Urahara kneeled before the standing child and showed him the bottle. The moment the child saw the bottle he calmed down.

“You must be in pain.” Urahara watched as the child shrugged again, sighing, he uncapped the bottle and poured the correct measurement for the child and held it out. The child dutifully took it. After he looked up at Zangetsu for direction.

The taller man led the child to the room, it was bare to any decorations but the child didn’t react other than move to the bed and slowly climb up. Giving the child a nod, he turned and turned to close the door but idled and looked up to the child to see he was still looking at him.

“Do you want me to close the door?” He asked softly as he could, the boy nodded his head before he finally wiggled down until he was lying on his side, facing the door with slightly drooping eyes.

Closing the door, Zangetsu walked into the main room to find Urahara browsing the file again. His hand held over his mouth. Zangetsu sat down heavily next to the man and waited for the man to read through the whole file, he had only skimmed through it before.

Ten minutes later and the man gave a disgusted grunt.

“They treated him like he is… some type of machine, he was beaten in the beginning of his training, this child…” Urahara sighed, he seemed to deflate and melt into the couch. He turned his head to the side to look at Zangetsu.

“He won’t be able to go back and have a normal life, his family might not be able to deal with the personality he has now, I don’t think he can seamlessly go into the mundane society,” Urahara sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “In a way he is a lot like you.” 

Zangetsu thought for a while, the man knew Urahara was correct, the boy would not be able to shake off the teachings he was all but beaten with. They are now all but hardwired into him. It would be the wrong thing to do to just hand the child over.

“I will take him in then.”

Urahara gave a small sigh of relief, he knew he would not be able to talk Zangetsu into taking the boy in, he would have taken the child in but he knew Zangetsu would have an easier time with the child.

He also knew Yoruichi would have a difficult time not trying to baby the child. Maybe when the child is older, she can teach him some moves but he knew Zangetsu would continue with the child’s training but in a far more humane way.

“I best be going; I will be back with some clothes and other basic necessities.” Urahara showed himself out, taking the file with him. Zangetsu knew that he would get the original back after the man came back. 

Zangetsu looked around and decided that this would not be the place the child would be raised in. His home had training rooms and it was remote and he would get the child tutors.

Four hours later and there was a knock on the door. Urahara was behind it, Yoruichi standing behind him, trying to peek over his shoulder. Urahara gave a sheepish shrug when Zangetsu looked at him with a raised brow.

“She knows more about what a child might want than I do.” They both came in carrying bags. The commotion must have wakened the child because as they were putting the bags down the door opened and a single amber eye peeked out. Zangetsu gestured for the child to come out.

The child was wary but did so, he was clearly curious about the bags and the new woman in the room.

Yoruichi looked at the child, her heart melted when she saw the small face looking up at her. She however, noticed that the child didn’t have the typical look of childish curiosity but more wary, as if he expected to get hurt or scolded at any minute.

She kneeled down to the child’s level and introduced herself softly and calmly but she kept a babying tone of voice out of hers.

“Hello dear, my name is Yoruichi.” The child tilted his head and Yoruichi was hard pressed to keep herself from squealing at how adorable the child was. The child mumbled her name under his breath till he got it right. Yoruichi smiled at him when he said it louder.

“We got you some clothing, a toothbrush and anything we thought you might need.” Urahara said as he brought the bags over and allowed the child to empty them out and look at what was inside. 

Out of all the clothes in the bags, there were only a few the child didn’t like, the adults noticed that they were all bright t-shirts and pants. The child clearly didn’t like bright colours. They all put that information in the back of their heads for now.

“We still have to deal with his birth certificate and give him a name.” Urahara took out the file and flipped through it till he got to the right page. He knew he had some strings to pull to get it done without raising any alarms but luckily, he had a few connections he could get in touch with.

The child looked up and looked a bit confused.

“I need a name? I thought my name was Fifteen?” The adults looked at the child, no one knew how to respond at first. Zangetsu got down and kneeled in front of the child, looking deeply into the child’s eyes.

“No, Fifteen is a name they gave you. It is time for you to have a name of your own.” The child pondered but ultimately gave up with a helpless shrug of shoulders.

“Fifteen has always been who I was, I don’t know if I want something else.” The child admitted, the adults could understand somewhat. Zangetsu thought more on it before he spoke again.

“How about we call you Ichigo?” The child looked up at him and blinked a few times.

“Ichigo?” He asked bewildered.

Urahara caught on quickly as he was prone to. He smacked his open palm with his other hand, a grin on his face.

“Good idea, Ichi and go being one and five is a way to keep the fifteen but it also means one who protects.” The child looked even more confused. Zangetsu looked at the child and decided that the child was never really give a chance to think for himself and that had to change.

“You were being groom to become a killer, someone who hurts others, is that something you want?” They all watched as the child sat and thought about it, a small frown beginning to appear on his face.

After a minute he slowly started to shake his head.

“No.” His voice was strong and sure.

“But the skills that they taught you can be used to protect people from the bad people that were hurting you. Does that sound like something that you would like to do?” Zangetsu asked, wondering if the child was still too young to make such life altering decision but ultimately, he knew that this wasn’t a normal child.

Again, the child sat and ponders over it.

The child still frowned but a small smile came onto his face.

“Protecting people sounds nice.” It was good enough for the adults.

“Then it’s settled, from now on your name is Ichigo, is that alright with you?” Urahara asked, his head tilted slightly to see the child’s face better. The child gave one decisive nod.

“Fantastic, what about a surname?” Urahara asked after he fille in the name.

Zangetsu looked at the child and the way the child sat, silent but watching, he thought about what the child went thought and what could possibly lay in his future.

“Kurosaki” Ichigo’s head snapped to look at him, eyes large and blinking before he looked off to the side in thought. Slowly a look of determination filled the child’s eyes and he gave another single sharp nod.

And that was how Kurosaki Ichigo was ‘born’.

________________________________________

Seventeen years later:

Grimmjow stretched with a low grumble as he waited for the coffee machine to finish brewing the morning’s sludge of ‘coffee’.

A sudden slap to the back made him tilt forward and glare back at Nnoitra, his behemoth of a best friend was giving him a shit eating grin, his cheeks spreading wide as he looked down at his best friend.

“Come on, no time for coffee” Grimmjow grumbled moodily behind his tall friend, he was anything but a morning person, he would grump and gripe until he got at least two coffees down his throat.

Nnoitra had been his partner in the police from the start of their careers but they were split up when the taller man got offered a position in the FBI after his stellar performance in a case where he took down a drug dealer and his entire operation all by himself. Grimmjow had not been there, having a family get emergency.

He wasn’t mad at his friend but he felt like he had the chops to be in the FBI as well, it was in his blood after all with his old man being in the FBI as well. He had been promoted to a detective shortly after Nnoitra left and had solved many cases. His last one being one that led him to a sex trafficking ring, through his hard work the ring was busted and many people got to go home, some had to be helped as they were kidnapped from over the boarders but they would still get to go home. 

Nnoitra lead him to his captain’s office, Grimmjow was bursting with questions but knew he just had to wait and he’ll get his answers. Inside his captain’s office sat the man, his salt and pepper hair and thick well-groomed moustache twitching slightly as he looked at the man next to him. Said man next to his captain was someone that had Grimmjow standing taller subconsciously.

The man had slicked back brown hair, his skin was pale but not overly so. His eyes were a sharp slanted shape, hinting of Asian heritage. His lips were set in a small but proud smirk as he looked at the door when it opened.

“Ah, Grimmjow, come inside, here is someone I’d… like… you to meet.” The captain had never been one to hide his feelings very well and it was clear that the man was not happy about what was going on.

The browned haired man stepped forward and offered his hand, his little smirk still on his lips like he was loving every moment of the situation.

“Aizen Sousuke, Director of the FBI” Grimmjow fought hard to not let the surprise show on his face, the man looked very young, a bit too young to be a director no less THE director of the FBI. He nodded and gripped the man’s hand and gave it a strong shake.

“Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. Pleasure to meet you sir.” Aizen gave a low hum and walked to the desk and picked up a thick file.

“I will cut to the chase, no time for beating around the bush. I have many eyes and ears in each police district on the look out for promising talent, your name has popped up enough times for it to grab my assistant director’s attention and he brought it to mine.” Aizen looked up after he flipped through the file.

“While it says you have a temper on you, you have yet to let it get the better of you and your work ethic is clean and precise. You work diligently and don’t question your uppers too much. Your record is impressive, your scores are even more so. Clearly your father has had a hand in your training. He must be very proud of you.” 

Grimmjow didn’t know if he had to reply but he did anyway.

“He has always been proud of my sister and I, as long as we give it our all in what we do he is happy for us.” Aizen hummed as he gently closed the file and held it with both hands.

“I need nothing more, the FBI would like to offer you a position on our Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.” Grimmjow again had to fight to keep his face from showing his sheer happiness.

“I’d be honoured to sir.” Grimmjow managed to get out steadily. Aizen gave him a knowing look but nodded.

“Nnoitra will help you move your things and show you to our building, I will send someone with your new badge and contract.” Aizen looked behind him and gave that little smirk to his former captain. 

Grimmjow gave his old captain a two fingered salute and a cocky grin before he left with a shit-eating grin wearing Nnoitra, he and their old captain had never gotten along.

Just as the door closed, they both heard a weary sigh and a ’there goes another one’.

________________________________________

The FBI building was well guarded, walled off with only one real way of entry, the guards checked their car and greeted Nnoitra like a friend. Grimmjow had yet to tell his parents about and sister about his sudden promotion.

“You tell Nel about this?” Grimmjow looked to his friend to see the man give a small grin. It had surprised everyone when Nnoitra asked Nel out almost out of the blue, his sister had agreed after thinking on it and they had been dating for almost two years.

His bubbly sister had mellowed his loud and rough friend, he was still a real handful most days but one only had to mention his sister to get the man to give a smaller, softer smile.

“Nah, I only heard today and you know I can’t keep shit from her, was real hard not to call her and tell but I thought this might be something you want to tell her.” Grimmjow grunted a sound of agreement as they got out of his car, Nnoitra groaning as he stretched out fully.

“When are you going to get a bigger car damnit.” Nnoitra grouched and glared at his car. It was rather spacious, unless you’re a 6 ft 8 man whose legs make up more of that height. Nnoitra got cramped really quick.

But Grimmjow knew that the man really meant nothing by it as Nnoitra knew how hard Grimmjow hard worked to save up for his 1970 Dodge Charger and all the amount of fixing the thing needed before it was drivable.

Inside the building was all cool greys and steel. 

“Lemme give ya quick tour and then we should go find Captain Starkk and introduce ya.” The tour was rather short, the locker and showers, the break room where there was a kitchen and what looked like a proper coffee machine.

After that Grimmjow was shown to the training rooms, the observation room, the cells they had for just in case, the offices, the equipment room and so on till they had walked the whole area. Grimmjow had noticed a few faces taking interest in him, but no one looked overly excited to come forward yet.

Once done, Nnoitra took him to the main room and found that the group he had wanted to call was already there, standing in a small loose group. Starkk at the front, his one hand shoved deep into his front pocket and the over holding a file. 

Grimmjow took in the group in front of him.

The tall man at the front had to be the captain as the man had the look of being half asleep but something told Grimmjow that this man was dangerous. His hair was a dark deep chocolate brown and hung around the man’s face in soft waves, his eyes lidded but still it was visible that Grimmjow could see that the man had a paler shade of blue eyes to his. The woman behind him was what he would classify as every typical straight man’s wet dream. Her skin was tanned, her hair a bright blonde and her eyes were a shocking shade of green but her body was what made Grimmjow know that she must have gotten some sexual comment aimed at her at least once a day.

She was wearing a black pair of cargo pants and a black t-shirt that sat a bit stiff across the chest, her very large chest. He absently wondered if she experienced the same backpain as his sister did.

There was also a dark-skinned man with cornrows and a deep-set face, a man with shaggy dark hair and an easy-go-lucky grin on his face as he talked to someone on the phone. On the other side of who Grimmjow pinned as the captain stood a short man who looked almost too pale to be healthy, his hair was black and hung around his collarbones, his eyes were large and even greener than the woman’s.

Over all it looked like an interesting bunch.

________________________________________

If you have any suggestions of what side parings you want, lemme know and like last chapter, if I made a mistake somewhere, please inform me so I can fix it.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the delay, life got a bit busy…  
Anyway, things should start to get interesting now.

Chapter 3

Grimmjow grunted as he flopped into his chair, their interview had not given them much but it was enough to go on for now. They had to get set up, their target would be at a strip joint, deep into the cesspool of downtown. Something in Grimmjow’s gut told him something would happen, he was usure if it was good or bad but it had him on edge. 

Sitting up straight, Grimmjow opened the file and jotted the last few details down, his mind focused on his task that he didn’t notice that he was all jittery.

A few desks away Starkk watched on, curious as to why Grimmjow was all energy. The man wasn’t as lethargic as he was but Grimmjow had a confident energy about him that usually had him moving at a laid-back pace.

“What’s up with Grimmjow?” Starkk asked to Nnoitra next to him, the man getting a cup of coffee. The tall man glanced at his twitchy friend, a joke on his lips before it fell unspoken as he took in Grimmjow. He knew that look on his friend’s face.

“His gut is telling him something.” Starkk looked at Nnoitra, his blue eyes piercing as he looked at the tall man before looking back at their blue haired co-worker. The man was now looking at the file unseeingly, as it he was willing it to show him something.

Their case was a bitter one, teenagers kidnapped, their connection was only their looks, beautiful teens that could pass for female or male. Five were now missing and the parents were hounding their doorstep, frothing at the mouth with frantic words of panic.

The sole lead they had now was that they were moved to a strip club.

“That a good or a bad thing?” Starkk asked, not all that fazed by a gut instinct, some had better instincts than others. In face he had one himself and his one was unsure about their coming visit to the strip club.

“Depends, you’ll have to ask him yourself.” Nnoitra grunted out around the brim of his coffee cup. Starkk nodded and walked up to Grimmjow, the man’s blue hues flicking his way when he takes a seat from a nearby table to the side of the desk.

“What’s your gut telling you?” Starkk watched as Grimmjow looked at him somewhat weary, reading the room Starkk figured that the possibility of the man’s previous captain dismissing Grimmjow’s gut was high. 

“Instinct is something we gain from cases, it needs to be trusted, that first initial feeling is usually right.” Starkk didn’t feel like explaining that his old captain was probably the same, it had cost them many cases and lives before Starkk lost his cool. It was that day that he was offered a position on the FBI, he took it without any thought, he just wanted to get away.

His old captain was pissed, he yelled, raved and cursed Starkk for being a traitor to the force.

Baraggan was ‘asked’ to retire soon after.

Grimmjow looked at the file and sighed.

“Its telling me that something important will happen but I can’t make out if its good or bad.” Starkk nodded, so they both felt the same about their next move. They would need to tread carefully.

“Hello?”

All heads snapped at the entrance of the main room.

A man stood at the door, looking somewhat unsure about his location, his hair was blond and cut in an odd bowl cut, his eyes weary as he looked around, there was a file under his arm, a badge on his hip.

“Yes?” Starkk stood and walked to the thin man.

The blonde man’s brown eyes looked his way. A thick file was handed his way. Confused, Stark took the file.

“Here.” There was a distinct British sound to the man’s voice but there was also a slight hint of American. 

“What’s this?” Stark asked as he took the file but didn’t open it.

“A gift from the MI5, a little birdie told me that the FBI was looking into this shitehole so we thought it a nice little international gift, we were after all snooping in your backyard. Since we solved out case and no longer need the file, not that we needed it in the end. We thought it best to give it to you.” The blond explained, his gestures flamboyant and free, his style classy with a pinstriped pant and stiff collared shirt and a neat vest.

“Uh, right.”

Grimmjow glanced Nnoitra’s way and they both tried hard to stifle their laughter, it was clear that the brit was confusing their captain a bit.

No one in their team was really flamboyant or so gesture-ful as the blond before them.

“If you don’t mind, can I possibly tag along?” The man asked, all goofiness gone, eyes sharp as they looked into Starkk’s.

Curious, and not all that offened, Starkk asked.

“Why?”

The blond looked off down into the hallway, a frown marring his face. His eyes locked with Starkk’s again, the serious edge still there if not sharper.

“Something is telling me that I need to be there, believe it or not but my reasons are my own. You can deny me but I can still go myself.” The man had a point but Starkk had no real reason to refuse.

“Sure.”

________________________________________

Dressed in civilian clothes with bulletproof vests underneath, the team entered the strip club, acting rowdy, like a group on a bachelor’s party. They were given entry easily enough. The club was big and very seedy, with the main room a large half circle, the curved walls were lined with poles with dancers, both male and female. On either side of the entrance of the club sat bars with full bars and ready bartenders.

They allowed Shinji, the British MI5 to lead the way to the bar, the man on the other side was a large man, probably also acted as a bouncer. His hair was a silvery colour but it could also be blond, it was hard to tell from under the constantly shifting colours of the club.

“Kensei, a round on me yeh?” The man gave a somewhat lop-sided grin that had the man looking at him with narrowed eyes before he nodded and got around to getting what everyone wanted. They wouldn’t really drink, act like it, the club was dark enough that a dark coloured beer bottle would be hard to tell.

Shinji was a closed lip kind of guy, didn’t really let any detail slip. He led them silently to a table that had a good vantage point of the club and was close to the exit if someone wanted to bolt.

Just as they say down a group came in, business suits and all, one face had Starkk stiffening. Looking over Grimmjow saw a man in his late forties maybe early fifties in the middle of a group of well-dressed men, their whole vibe had Grimmjow’s hair on the back of his neck raised.

“Whozat?” Grimmjow asked Starkk. The man quickly averted his eyes from the man, his pale eyes eerie in the ever-changing coloured lights of the club, it reminded Grimmjow that his captain was a very observant man.

“He’s a high-ranking Politian, I know he’s dirty, have known it for a long time. Just haven’t ever gotten a chance to try and prove it before I was offered a spot in FBI. He’s just one of those guys, you know he’s up to something bad, keep an eye on him and his little group.” Starkk watched as Grimmjow nodded and looked back at the stage. The stage that had a perfect view, a peripheral view of the group.

Before much could be said the lights turned a deep sultry red, the polititan’s group started chanting and whooping.

Starkk moved his gaze to the stage and almost chocked on the spit in his mouth. He glanced at the only openly gay member of their group and had to fight the smirk from forming on his mouth.

Grimmjow’s jaw was hanging, his eyes wide.

Stark didn’t blame him, the man on the stage, slinking closer to the main stage pole was something else. His body was sleek, in the skin tight body suit he was wearing, it didn’t leave much to the imagination body wise, his muscles easily definable through the latex second skin of the bodysuit. 

Thankfully the man’s genitals were not that visible, a small miracle in Starkk’s opinion, he didn’t think Grimmjow would be able to look away otherwise.

The man was shrouded in the dark red lights, the flickering lights making it hard to see anything else. Th polititan’s group were still whooping, making lewd remarks that had Starkk itching to point his phone and press record.

Suddenly the lights turned brighter and the man was now visible and the sight that greeted them was something else. The man wore a mask, it was white with nothing else, the eyes were what gave it a freaky vibe, they were a stark almost glowing yellow.

They narrowed and widened underneath the mask giving everyone the feel of a predator eyeing up prey. The man gave the impression of a big black panther.

To Grimmjow the man was just too good-looking, the way the man moved was almost like liquid. By the time the man made it to the pole the lights were back to normal, a slow drum started, the heavy thumping of the beat was one that made Grimmjow’s heart race to meet its pace.

Lithe and latex covered, the man grabbed the pole and swayed his hip till he made a full circle, his feet matching the thump of the beat. Once the man stood in front of the pole, he tilted his head back, his eyelids lowering into what could only be a sultry look.

It had Grimmjow’s blood pressure spiking and Shinji’s nerves on edge.

There was something about the way the man moved that made Shinji’s mind scream that he knew those body movements and they made him nervous.

The tempo of the song grew quicker, the dancer grabbing the pole with a hand above his head, he slowly lowered in a split, making the horny men cheer with glee, the dancer seemed unaffected, swerving a leg to stand up fluently, both hands grabbing the pole, the man swung his weight gracefully around the pole, his body arched in seductive curves as he twisted and worked the pole.

The music suddenly grew darker, the lights dimming as the dancer crawled on the stage to the front of it, close to the Politian’s table who were all but ensnared by the tempting eyes and supple body.

Screams followed when the lights when dark. It was only for a few seconds but when it was over the dancer was in front of the stage but, his mask had changed.

The mask made Shinji’s lungs freeze. His heart gave a heavy lurch that was painful as it skipped a beat or two. It was a mask that Shinji would never be able to forget. The toothy grin, a mockery of a smile. It was like the mask took great pleasure in instilling fear into the hearts of those who saw it.

Still bone white with slanted eyeholes, like the mask was also judging those who came before it, the red lines coming from the left eyehole looked like blood in the lights of the club. The whole mask had Shinji unmoving in shock and fear, he could barely breath.

All he could do was watch with the rest as the man moved towards the Politian’s group, said man seemed to be his target. The man himself looked all too eager as the dancer approached, making small grabby hands that made the agents stomachs curl with disgust.

Grimmjow was a bit surprised by the sudden mask change but he couldn’t really lie to himself and say it didn’t freak him out, the yellow eyes made it all look very demonic. He watched, somewhat envious as the Politian grabbed the dancer by the hips and all but yanked the poor man onto his lap, he was saying something to the dancer as he ran his hands over the man’s taunt torso.

The dancer didn’t seem to want to actually dance on the man but he leaned in, seemingly to whisper into the man’s ear, long thin fingers played with the fancy white button-up shirt. Grimmjow’s eyes tracked the movement, his instincts kicking in, telling him something was about to happen.

Grimmjow mentally cursed when the lights stated to go dark red and flicker, he was barely able to make out the that the dancer had slipped something into the man’s pocket before he saw the dancer slowly turn around still on the man’s lap before he arched, in a way Grimmjow was sure no human should comfortably bend in, both hands of the dancers stretched behind him. Hands clasped on the back of the Politian’s neck.

The song grew more intense as the dancer swayed his hips, his body moving fluidly as he eased out of the man’s grasp and back to the stage, turning his back to the stage, he easily hoisted himself back onto the stage where he laid of the ground and arched his back, yellow eyes lazily looking over the room.

Yellow met blue and Grimmjow couldn’t help but swallow as he saw the lazy look in those eyes. Those eyes fired him up for some reason. He wanted to know what was hiding behind that mask.

A few things happened at once next.

The lights went out again, there was a rough cough followed by a glass falling and breaking, screaming men and women, scraping chairs followed by falling chairs.

Grimmjow felt something brush up against him.

Then the lights came back and the dancer was gone and the Politian gasping on the floor, it was clear the man couldn’t breathe, his face turning blue. It was a rush then to get an ambulance. Starkk’s group stayed away from the commotion, it was while they had the advantage of not being watched that Grimmjow checked his pocket of the side he was brushed against.

Starkk noted this and watched as Grimmjow removed a flash disk from his pocket, blinking at his questioningly.

“Take it that wasn’t there before?” Kaien asked as he looked at the small black device to his fellow agent’s confused face. Grimmjow pocketed the disk before he looked around him at his team, Nnoitra, Kaien, Starkk and Shinji who looked a little bit unsure about the disk.

“I think we should get back and check what’s on this. When the lights went out, I felt something or rather someone brush up against me. Something tells me, that whoever put this in my pocket wants us to see something.” Grimmjow’s voice sounded unsure, his eyes flicking to his captain’s.

No one said that, for someone to want them to see it, that person had to know they were FBI.

That someone knew, was not a comforting thought.

When they returned to their offices, the rest of the team was waiting, they listened as the group retold the events of the night, Ulquiorra held his hand open when the story time was over.

Grimmjow huffed and handed the flash drive over. The group followed as Ulquiorra made his way to the tech room, after plugging the disk in and running a diagnostic on it, it showed that there was no virus on it, still weary, Ulquiorra disconnected the laptop he was working on from the internet and their systems.

The group watched with baited breath as the flash drive was opened.

The screen showed a new window, fifteen folders neatly numbered revealed themselves. Curiosity peaked, Ulquiorra opened the first file and the room grew stifling.

“Is that what I think it is?” Nnoitra nearly growled out.

In file one was photos. Photos of the politian in very bad positions. In each photo he was with a child no older than ten. They all jumped when a message bubble popped up in the middle of the screen.

‘Greets FBI agents.  
If you’re reading this, you have taken an interest in the mysteriously appearing flash disk. You’d be fools to ignore the evidence I have given you.

Mr. Anders has been very very bad, I take it that you will ensure this information comes out to the public.

Oh, and Shinji? I am so glad you made something of yourself.’

The group looked around before they looked to the brit, his face ashen and his eyes still wide.

“Shite…” The blond backed away from the computer room and walked to the closest chair. Landing on the seat gracelessly. His hands raking into his hair messily, his face taunt with fear. The seated blond didn’t stay seated as he stood once the whole group entered the room, the man pacing when the last entered.

“Yo what’s the deal?” Nnoitra grunted.

Shinji took in a deep breath before facing the team.

“A few years ago, a bunch of babies were snatched.” The sentence alone had Grimmjow looking at the blond, his brain helpfully reminding him that his dad had been stuck on this case ever since that one night, his dad never went into details but Grimmjow knew that the last missing child had escaped.

“What a lot of people don’t really know is that a few years after the first group of kids were kidnapped, another group of kids, older were also kidnapped.” Shinji’s arms crossed over themselves in a self-hugging gesture. 

“You were one of the kids kidnapped?” Starkk asked, his sleepy demeanour all but gone. His blue gaze freezing Shinji for a second as he blinked at the FBI captain.

Snapping out of it, Shinji looked around the room unseeingly.

“Yeh, it was pretty traumatic. But, well, there was another child there, kept away from us, he was young and the only time I saw him was when he was wearing a mask.” The brit’s words met a silent but shocked room, the FBI team all staring at the man.

“That man… was…” Kaien asked slowly. Harribel looked at him, concern in her eyes. She knew more than the rest, that Kaien knew more about the missing babies than the others did. It was family to him. That baby was his nephew. 

“That man was the last surviving and missing baby. I will never be able to unsee that mask,” Shinji shivered. “There was something so unnatural about that kid… seeing him now as an adult. Makes me wish I didn’t know even a fraction of what that poor kid had to go through.” Shinji took in a noisy breath before he released it as a harsh sigh.

“All I remember is what the kid was named.” That got the group to perk up slightly more.

“Fifteen.” They all blinked at the man, somewhat confused.

“They named the child fifteen?” Ulquiorra asked, a small frown on his lips. Grimmjow had a look of disgust on his face while the rest looked somewhat horrified.

Shinji looked down at his shoes.

“I got one guard to tell me a little bit. They told me that the boy was their golden goose, he told me that the child was a future killer and that they had big plans for him. That the child was a living weapon and didn’t need a name.” Shinji’s face formed a full-on sneer as he hissed his words out, clearly getting worked up.

“How he escaped I don’t know but I know that the child was already ruthless and cold when he was eight. I can’t even begin to think what he is like know, if he continued with training on his own or someone found him,” Shinji raised his head to look into each of the FBI agents, resting on Starkk’s as he finished.

“but be sure that the man will most likely be broken, and out for revenge.”

Nnoitra scoffed but didn’t glare.

“How would you know?”

Shinji gave a twisted smirk.

“Because each and every one of us kids who got just a few months of his torture dream of it almost all the time, we ponder it, daydream it and have nightmares still. He had eight years of torture, and there were things they did to him but not to us. I can guarantee you that he is man with a lot of hate in his heart.” 

Shinji walked to the char that had his jacket, he took it and threw it over a shoulder.

“I’ll be in touch.” Were the man’s parting words.

No one spoke for a few seconds as they digested the man’s words.

“What am I to do with the data on the flash drive?” Ulquiorra asked, looking up at their captain. Starkk sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Go through it with Harribel and make copies, send the rest to the director, it’s his decision, show him the messages too, I doubt he’ll make the wrong mistake, man is creepy like that.” Nnoitra and Grimmjow snorted softly.

It was rather a running joke that Aizen was unable to make a mistake on anything, the man was living perfection.

“Understood.” Ulquiorra murmured, a twitch of his lips was all they saw as he quickly turned on his heel to go back to the computer room, Harribel following behind.

“Rest of you go home.” Starkk grunted and moved to his desk.

“I’ll wright the report.” Starkk watched as the remaining group look at each other unsurely before they shrugged and moved to get their gear and shouted out good-byes as they left the room one by one.

________________________________________

Marshal looked up from his book when the front door opened and closed. He listened as his son moved around, the thump of his bag hitting the group harder than normal.

“Bad day?” Marshal spoke as Grimmjow walked past with a grunted greeting, his body lethargic as he made his way into the kitchen, the fridge opening and closing with less force than the duffle bag received.

Grimmjow sat down on the couch with a heavy sigh.

Just as Marshal opened his mouth to ask what had happened, the news came on, the flashing lights of a police car were the first few as a news anchor stood in front of a camera, it was clear she wasn’t all that comfortable being in front of a known sleezy strip club.

She went on to explain what had happened but didn’t tell who was involved. Just that it was someone with political power.

Marshal looked to his son to see that the man wasn’t even remotely interested.

“Know about this?” He couldn’t help but ask, his days of the FBI long since done due to an injury suffered while on the clock. The benefits were nice but he missed being in all the action.

“Yeah, we had a stake out of sorts in that shithole.” Grimmjow took a deep drink from his beer and sighed, he side-eyed his dad before grunting to himself.

“We had a surprise waiting for us. I can’t tell you all the details, you know you can’t tell anyone else what I tell you.” Grimmjow waited for his dad to nod, a look screaming ‘duh’ written all over his face.

“Well to start, a fuckin’ MI5 agent popped up out of the blue, gave us their information on the strip club we were investigating, we asked to join, Starkk thought that there was something he wasn’t telling us but ultimately agreed. We went to the joint and well,’ Grimmjow gave his had a half smirk half grimace. “A dancer came up, he was entrancing to say the least, wore a full body suit and a white mask.” Marshal just gave his son a fond smile when he mentioned the male dancer.

“But then…” Grimmjow looked at his dad, face serious.

“The lights went out and the dancer had a new mask, dad, it was intimidating. The dancer then danced his way to that politian and after that, the lights went out and the politian was on the ground gasping for breath and something brushed up against me, when the lights came on the dancer was gone.”  
They both knew Grimmjow was deliberately leaving out some information but Marshal knew Grimmjow could only tell so much and he knew how to read between the lines.

“Turns out someone slipped me a flash drive. We hurried back to the office to see what was on it, dirty secrets of the politian were on it and…” Grimmjow sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “A message popped up, it was not signed by anyone but the MI5 agent knew who they were.”

“Turns out that the MI5 agent was one of those kidnapped kids.” Grimmjow watched his dad stiffen, his blue eyes still sharp as they zoomed in on his face.

“That dancer? The mask he wore, was the same mask the other kid wore, the child that escaped.” Grimmjow watched as his father take a shuddering breath. Grimmjow knew that his father was still bothered by that time he couldn’t save the last surviving stolen baby. He was never told in detail what happened but he knew it bothered his father, that the unknowing if the kid was even alive.

“He’s alive then.” Marshal sighed and shook his head.

“Yeah, seems so. But, there is a very good chance he did something to the politian.” Grimmjow watched as his dad rubbed the back of his neck, now sitting forward on his chair, Marshal took a few minutes to gather his thoughts.

“That man has been put through hell Grimmjow, it would be safe to assume he has more than one demon chasing his waking mind.” Grimmjow nodded, thinking back to what Shinji had said. If what Shinji had to face was just a fraction of what number fifteen had to go through then he guessed it was easy to understand that the man might be a bit unhinged.

“Just try and not kill him when you catch him? There must be a reason if he did try and kill the politian.” Marshal was denied an answer from his son when the news anchor suddenly stopped, her hand on her ear as she listened, her eyes going wide.

“There has been an update on the politian case.” The screen turned black for a second before the screen was filled with the head anchors, both looking somewhat uncomfortable.

“There has been a large break in the politian case. It has been revealed that the politian is none other than Kennedy Anders, and it has been reported that he had passed away, he had been declared deceased on the way to the hospital.

However, it has also been released by the FBI that Mr. Anders had taken part in the making and distributing of child pornography.” 

Marshal and Grimmjow looked at the screen in horror.

________________________________________

Ichigo sighed as he unzipped the latex body suit, the head cover on his bed already. His mane of red hair hung limply from his face, sweet drenched and scalp aching. Running a hand through his hair, massaging his aching scalp, Ichigo moved to the bathroom, his back breathing the cool air of the apartment.

Shivering when his thinly latex clad feet met the tiles of the bathroom, Ichigo moved to the sink, his yellow eyes meeting his own reflection’s.

Gripping the sink’s edges tight enough to put stress on his knuckles, Ichigo gazed at himself for a few seconds before releasing the sink. Opening the cabinet under the sink, Ichigo got the contact lens case. 

His eyes were itching due to the coloured lenses, it was a relief to have them off. His amber eyes now staring back at him.

Ignoring the frowning face in the mirror, Ichigo peeled the latex body suit from his skin, the sweat making it sticky and a little bit painful to remove but once it was off he sighed, the restricting feeling away from his chest.

Showering quickly but thoroughly, Ichigo was done within a few minutes.

The bed called to him, he scooped up the latex suit and mask, stuffed it into a bag and chucked it to the side of the room before he prowled around the apartment to ensure himself that it was locked up tight before flopping on the bed with a groan, his body lying loose limbed on the bed.

As his body slowly relaxed into rest mode, his mind wondered to the FBI group. They were a colourful bunch. 

They all had his nerves on edge, he knew they were not to be taken lightly, he would have to be smarter and quicker if he wanted to complete his task before getting caught.

The blue haired man stood out to Ichigo, the man’s gaze had sent tingles up his spine and had the hairs on his body standing but, it was a pleasurable feeling. A feeling he wasn’t all that familiar with.

Pleasures of the human body were things he didn’t want to do or explore no matter how much Yoruichi nudged and prodded him, it was something, the very idea was alien to him. All he remembers of it was pain, and in the back of his mind he knew that it was supposed to actually be good, amazing even but Ichigo had no want or need to try and find out.

It was tainted by the very idea of that man.

Ichigo’s skin crawled in disgust while his chest tightened in anger, his hands forming shaking fists.

Only when he was alone, did Ichigo allow himself to feel. To grieve his stolen youth and plot ways to get his revenge.

With these thoughts and flashes of blue eyes Ichigo succumbed into slumber's sweet embrace.

________________________________________

Hope this was worth the wait.

If I made a mistake of great importance, please let me know so I can fix it, I don’t have the time to diligently read through this as much as I want to. 

Thanks for reading.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for being late-ish again, had to finish two pieces before I could write.

________________________________________

Chapter 4

Nothing.

They found nothing.

“Are you sure?” Starkk asked unbelievingly.

The coroner nodded, face marked with sagging eyebags tinted in blue, giving away the state of the man, he was clearly exhausted.

“We went over the body four times just to be sure, there are no puncture marks, no proof of needles, the only drugs in Mr. Ander’s system was in his nose, blood system and stomach. We did some tests and it was tainted cocaine.” The coroner went on, handing over the results of the autopsy

Starkk took the file and with a nod left the man to stumble his way to the exit. Walking with the file in hand, Starkk pondered, so fifteen had not killed the politician, it was probably the men he was with that night.

They had searched the man’s house and all his personal tech, his phone was recovered and his belongings were being looked over by Harribel and Kaien, Grimmjow and the rest would be trickling in any minute now and they had a lot to discuss.

He was unsure where Shinji was but the man said he’d be in touch so he garnered that the man would pop up eventually.

Walking into the main room, Starkk was greeted by his whole squad sitting at their tables, waiting for him, it was just as well.

Leaning his hip against his desk he opened the coroner’s file and read through it quickly, no one said a word, just looked at him, waiting. Setting the file down on his table, Starkk turned so his thighs rested against the table and pondered.

“Fifteen didn’t kill Anders.” His words make everyone blink in surprise, Harribel and Kaien looked at each other and nodded. They stood and walked to the large board on the one side of the room, it was for their current case’s clues and important information to be stuck on.

The duo went about adding the photographs of the evidence they had found. The first picture was the man’s once-crisp button-up shirt, on the collar was a type of off white substance, it looked like it could be cocaine. The second picture was of the man’s tie, it had more of the white substance on it. The third picture was of a note, it had a message written on it in bold block letters.

‘Enjoy prison, filthy pig.’

“Huh, guess that proves that fifteen didn’t kill the guy, it seems he wanted the guy to go to prison.” Starkk huffed out as he looked at the rest of the photos, more evidence that the man was killed by someone else and not their original suspect.

“I get why.” Grimmjow piped up from his desk, his eyes intently watching the evidence being put on the board. 

“How so?” Ulquiorra asked, his large green eyes peering at the blue-haired man.

Grimmjow snorted and looked at the few printed pictures of those on the disk, they weren’t stomach-churning at the rest, it was mostly a group shot of other yet to be unidentified men and women.

“The moment the other prisoners get a whiff of you being a woman beater or child abuser you’re either someone else’s bitch or dead within a month, if you have the survival skills a week otherwise. Hell, some guards purposefully ‘let slip’ that the prisoner is a pedo.” Grimmjow lifted his hands to make air quotes.

Ulquiorra thought about it for a while before nodding.

“Seems a suitable punishment.” The group gaped and blinked at the pale man, who just blinked back.

“Right,” Starkk coughed slightly to gain everyone’s attention. The man then sighed and rubbed his face. “We don’t have a lot to go on for now but for now we leave fifteen on the back burner, for all the public know, we found this info by ourselves, no one knows of fifteen’s involvement and that is how it will stay.”

Starkk got a room full of confirmation.

________________________________________

For a while, it seemed like the fifteen situation was all but forgotten, their work into identifying the other men and women in the photo was still slow and they yet to get anything other than a few maybes.

It was starting to grate on Grimmjow’s nerves, Nnoitra was more than aware, the whole situation had them all on edge.

“I’m planning on popping the question to Nel.” Nnoitra hoped that this would distract the man enough to allow his mind to get a breather. It worked as the blue-haired man’s head snapped in his direction, two large blinking eyes locked on him.

The shock was clear on Grimmjow’s face before a great big grin overtook the shocked look.

“Bout fuckin time you ass, making my sister wait this long, better be a damn good ring.” Nnoitra gave a grin in return before he slid a hand in his jacket’s pocket, out came a small velvet box. He slid it over to Grimmjow who picked it up gently.

Inside was a single silver ban, it was encrusted with a row of small diamonds, the middle was set with a pale turquoise gem. It was understated but it was perfect for Nel who didn’t like anything overly flashy. Feeling a smile make its way onto his face, this time being one of a gentler nature, Grimmjow closed the lid of the box and handed the ring back.

“She’ll love it. When are you going to ask?” Grimmjow watched as the brave front his best friend hold up crumble, the large man rubbed the back of his neck, looking visibly nervous.

“Tonight.”

Grimmjow just gave a grin with a teasing edge to it.

“Don’t make too big of a deal about it.” Grimmjow advised before he went back to reading a file on a possible lead.

________________________________________

Nnoitra sat in front of his girlfriend of two years. She had dressed up when he told her to, and as always, she made him wonder why she had agreed to date him in the first place.

Nel was a beautiful woman, her long teal hair was in a half up and down style, it left the sides of neck open and her face was framed by a few choice pieces of hair, her large wheat coloured eyes were framed by shimmery gold eyeshadow that made them stand out more than normal, her lips tinted a faint red.

She was dressed in a gold one-shoulder, knee-length dress and some strappy shoes that made his own ache in sympathy.

She was always beautiful but right not she was causing him to be a bit more nervous than normal.

Thinking on just asking now instead of later after they had dinner, Nnoitra carefully got the box out of his pocket and slid it over to Nel who blinked at the box a few times before slow looking at Nnoitra with a look, it was small but there was a look of hope on her face.

Slowly she reached out and took the box with even more care than her brother, her long fingers ran over the texture of the velvet box before she slowly opened it to reveal the ring inside. Her hand went to her mouth, her eyes glossy as she looked up to meet Nnoitra, her eyes pleading with him to ask the question they both knew he wanted to.

So, Nnoitra got up, her towering body gaining the entire restaurant’s attention when he did so, he kneeled in front of her, taking her hand from her mouth gently and just looked at her, Nel knew Nnoitra wasn’t good with words, that he spoke more with his actions, she read his eyes, how much there was to see.

“Yes, of course!” Nel all but yelled to the restaurant, the room bursting into applause as Nel gave the box to Nnoitra so he could slip the ring on her finger.

The rest of the night was spent with smiles on their faces, Nnoitra was so attuned to Nel he failed to notice the large group of men at the back of the room until near the end of their dinner. It had been when he returned from the bathroom that he spotted the shady looking table.

Men with leery looks, scruffy faces but well-dressed all the well.

Nnoitra’s mind told him that one face stood out for him but he couldn’t recall where he had seen the face, it bothered him, he didn’t want to think about work now but their case was an important one but he was with Nel and they had just gotten engaged.

Nel knew him well however, the moment he sat down she looked at him with a look he knew well enough. Her one fine eyebrow lifted, her mouth set in a mixture of a pout and a smirk.

Not even trying to fool her he shrugged.

“The case we’re working on, one of those creepy-looking fucks is making me suspicious.” Nel took a small peek at the table and grimaced. She looked back at Nnoitra and sighed.

“They do look like a bunch of men that seem better placed in a police cell.” Nnoitra couldn’t help but snort and nod in agreement, still one man had his brain scrambling to remember where he had seen the man’s mug before.

He didn’t think too hard on it, even though he knew he should.

It didn’t seem to matter in the end as the lights suddenly went off, women screamed while some men yelped. There was an eery silence before Nnoitra could faintly make out a scuffle, there was the sound of glasses and cutlery meeting the floor before the lights went on again.

Nnoitra’s eyes grew in size as he looked at the seedy table to see fifteen crouching on the newly cleared table, the five men surrounding the table watching him in fear as the man slunk forward to the man who was sitting in the middle.

Using the shock he’d generated, fifteen struck. The man flinched when he was hit on the forehead with something flat and wet. Blinking, the man looked up to see the vicious grinning mask with glaring eyes. The man’s hand lifted and there was a small remote in his hand, a click and the lights went out again.

Nnoitra was on his feet by then when he felt another brush up against him.

He knew what that meant, he didn’t have time to think much of it when the lights went back up and fifteen was gone again.

Looking at the table he saw that the middle man at the seedy table had been stamped with the word ‘rapist’ on his forehead, the man was trying to wipe it off in vain. 

Suddenly the doors opened and in came the police, guns at the ready, they made a bee-line for the seedy table, yelling at them to lift their hands up and that they were under arrest. Nnoitra watched with an open hanging mouth as the men were taken into police custody and shoved out the doors. 

Nel watched her fiancé with blinking eyes.

“What just happened?” She asked somewhat breathless. Nnoitra grunted and flagged a waiter down for the bill. He gave Nel a look that told her he would tell her when they had less ears about. She nodded and grabbed her purse and waited for Nnoitra to pay for their meal, the idea of dessert at the restaurant all but lost, they had ice-cream at home.

Once home, Nnoitra watched as Nel made her way upstairs to get dressed in something more comfortable and to probably remove her make up.

Taking out his phone he rang Starkk.

“Nnoitra?” The man’s sleepy voice made his lips twitch but the seriousness of the situation made him sober.

“Was at the restaurant when fifteen showed up. Stamped a guy on the forehead with rapist, turned the lights off and then slipped by me,” Nnoitra dug his hand into his pocket and felt the tell-tale signs of a flash drive. 

“And yeah, I got a new flash drive.”

Starkk hummed in thought.

“Come in first thing tomorrow.” Nnoitra grunted and made this way into the kitchen to get two bowls of ice-cream, do a last check to make sure everything was closed before he went up the stairs to find Nel already snuggling into her pillow, remote in hand, flipping through the channels.

Settling down for the night they ate their ice-cream and fell asleep, Nnoitra holding Nel close, she had yet to take off the ring.

________________________________________

The next morning the group gathered at the computer Ulquiorra used last time, the flash drive already inserted. Ulquiorra was sitting in front of the laptop, less unsure than the previous time but they were all still wary of what evidence they would find on the flash drive.

Grimmjow grunted when no one made a move or a peep for a few minutes, it seemed to get Ulquiorra moving, the flash drive was clicked opened and again fifteen folders popped up in the new window. Opening the first folder, they found yet again incriminating photos of the man fifteen had stamped a rapist. 

“Is it me of does that guy look familiar to you guys?” Nnoitra asked his eyes firmly on the man’s face instead of what the man was doing in the picture. It was very clear the woman in the picture was nowhere near consenting.

Grimmjow took a look at the board from where he could barely make it out in the other room, he walked to the board and looked at the group shot a bit better.

There were six men and two women in the picture. The two women seemed uncomfortable in the room, standing at the corner of the room, one woman had a sneer on her face, disgust clear on her face. The other looked on impassively apart from how clear it was that she didn’t want to be there either from how hard she was gripping her sleeves.

One man had his back to the camera, his hair was slicked back and dark, the rest of the man was facing away from the camera, taking the picture down, he looked at it closer. One of the men was Anders, the other could possibly be the man fifteen targeted.

Taking the picture back to the computer room, he held the picture next to the screen so they could compare the two pictures.

Both men had dark blond hair, sharp features and a scar on the jaw.

“Do we have an ID for the guy?” Grimmjow asked, looking over his shoulder at Starkk who nodded.

“The guy was arrested by the police. It is pretty clear to me that fifteen made sure that the police would be there when the man was, to ensure he was where we could get him, I figure.” Starkk left to pick up his desk phone so he could call the Aizen, relay the information to the man.

It was within a few hours they had the man handed over to their custody.

When faced with the evidence the man tried to argue that they had no right to hack his cameras and how it was an invasion of his privacy but the excuse fell flat quickly when it was revealed it wasn’t just in the man’s house where he was caught but in other establishments.

William Baker was easily charged with multiple charges of rape, he was given a small plea deal if he gave up names of the people in the photo but Baker admitted that he didn’t know who the people were, he was invited to a group that would supply them with girls, drugs, anything they wanted if they either gave them a way into politics, did their dirty work or kidnapped more women and men, even children for them. Some were just sponsors enjoying the privileges of their money.

Baker had no names of people to give but he had places to give and he sang like a canary.

Three establishments were raided and many, many nasty secrets were revealed, people were caught with their pants down. None of which were the ones in the photo.

Still it was a good thing, they were able to save eight men, sixteen women and nine kids. The kids were in some bad shape, one woman had been brutally raped and needed immediate hospital care but they all made it out alive but Grimmjow and his team knew, knew very well that these people were not safe from the horrors they had to face and endure.

And they had no one else to thank than fifteen.

It was a bittersweet thing, the man clearly had connections and the freedom to do and go as he pleased where they were tied by rules and laws, still they had every right to use the evidence given to them.

________________________________________

Ichigo sighed long and hard as he looked around him, the familiar path to his location giving him little sense of calm.

Glancing left and right to ensure no car was around, he walked across the street to the apartment building, he still remembered it. He knew how to get into the building in four different ways, he opted for the normal route.

Pressing the buzzer for the top floor.

“Yes?” A gravelly voice came from the speaker.

“It’s me.” He spoke into the receiver, a few seconds later and a loud buzz informed him that the gate was open. Jogging up the stairs, Ichigo was in front of a dark blue door, a number six on it. Knowing that the man inside had probably already unlocked the door.

Sure enough, the door was open.

The inside of the apartment was as bare as always with minimal furniture but with a sleek elegant stye. It was comforting to Ichigo to be back in the apartment. Looking around after putting the take away he brought along on the kitchen table, Ichigo found the man he was looking for.

Zangetsu was lounging in his big chair, a book in one hand, a whiskey in the other. The man looked up from his book to watch Ichigo prowl into the room and sit on the couch, spraying out in a lazy lounge himself.

“I see your second endeavour was a success.” Ichigo grunted a confirming grunt before he flopped his head to the side to meet the man’s gaze.

Nothing much has changed of the old man looks-wise, his hair gaining a dark grey colour but what people didn’t see was that Zangetsu was ill.

The man had found out too late that he was very sick, having collapsed in front of Ichigo and Urahara. They had rushed him to the hospital and found out, the man was dying.

Lung cancer, stage four.

There wasn’t much the doctors could do, they informed them as much. Ichigo remembers feeling numb as they sat in the hospital room, his mind unable to comprehend that his father figure was dying and had just a few months left to live.

The doctors suggested chemo but they also gave their honest opinion and told them that there was little chance of fighting the cancer. Zangetsu admitted that he had been feeling off but thought he was just stuck with a cough.

“How you feeling old man?” The question made Zangetsu still, his face turning thoughtful, he never lied to Ichigo or Urahara when they asked, he usually gave an honest answer after taking in how he felt.

“Better than yesterday.” The man finally answered, it was enough for Ichigo, the day before was a rough day for them all. Ichigo would only admit to himself that he had been somewhat tempted to put his plan for that day later off but Zangetsu berated him for losing focus on his mission.

He went through with his plan and luckily, he could keep his head on and complete his task, it was a good thing he decided to keep track of the FBI agents. It was how he found the online reservation at the restaurant. A few tweaks here and there and he had his target there the same night, posing as a potential buyer was easy enough.

Standing up, Ichigo walked to the takeaway bag and brought two plates with him, Zangetsu had placed his book down and waited patiently as Ichigo plated up for them, he watched as Ichigo plated less for him, the man knowing full well his appetite was diminishing by the day.

“Thank you.” Zangetsu was thankful for the man, he was proud of the man the once scared and confused boy became, he was still haunted, the looks that flashed over the man’s amber eyes were clear of that.

They ate in silence, Zangetsu knew that the man’s mind was a mile away but he didn’t mind. He liked having Ichigo around, the boy had become a son to him in a matter of months and he knew Ichigo saw him as a father and Urahara as the eccentric uncle with his pervy wife.

Once the food was eaten, Ichigo rose and took the dirty plates to the kitchen, rinsed them before he placed them in the dishwasher. He placed the leftovers in the fridge. A bottle of whiskey was his returning prize, an empty glass in his other hand.

He poured another drink for Zangetsu before he poured himself one.

More silence this time but it felt peaceful.

“I have finished my will today.” Zangetsu stated after they finished their glasses. Ichigo sat up and looked at the man, a sad look flashed in his eyes but he hid it after, had Zangetsu not been around the boy since he was eight, he wouldn’t have missed it.

“Yeah?” Ichigo offered the man the opening to say what he wanted to say, something Zangetsu knew the child Ichigo had learned quickly, it was a skill the boy had long before they met, the ability to quickly learn people’s habits and signs.

Zangetsu knew it was a survival skill the child had to learn and it was something that Ichigo had never gotten over or unlearned himself, nor did Zangetsu try, it was a useful skill after all.

“I will be leaving you all of my possessions, most of my money will also go to you, I have signed Urahara and Yoruichi a sizeable some as well.” Ichigo nodded, he knew there was no one else in Zangetsu’s life.

Still it was a lot of money and Ichigo was unsure he would know what to do with it all other than just put it in an account and stare at it, he might use it to upgrade some of his equipment but he had a sizeable amount of money from his own contracts, contracts from the government.

They paid pretty good on their hush-hush contracts.

But he knew that Zangetsu wanted to be sure he would be okay after he was gone, they both knew that Ichigo didn’t want the man to die but that was just how life was.

“Promise me you will keep Urahara in check, his wife encourages his antics.” Zangetsu’s voice was rough and gravelly as always but it was getting even more so, the pain medicine he was on doing the best they could but the man’s time was running out.

Ichigo’s lips twitched, they had seen how messy and goofy the man could get when he was given free rein.

“Yeah, I’ll be sure to keep the goofball under some control” Ichigo’s tone was light and teasing, it made Zangetsu smirk before he went into a coughing fit. Ichigo was by his side in an instant, face full of worry. He stood and dashed to the kitchen, bringing back a glass of water.

Zangetsu took it gratefully, taking small measured sips after his coughing stopped. The man breathed with some difficulty for the rest of the night before they both made for bed, Zangetsu having offered the guest room to Ichigo. 

He knew the man would stress all night in his own apartment.

________________________________________

Okay another slow chapter, but trust me next chapter will be better. 

Thanks for the support and reading, again if I make a blunder somewhere please let me know.


	5. Chapter 5

Here’s chapter 5  
________________________________________

Chapter 5

Nel sighed as she placed the file in her hands on the counter.

She loved her job, she really did. It was a fulfilling job being a nurse but working with cancer patients was something else entirely. Every other day someone leaves, cured. The other its draped in a white sheet.

Today was a day where someone left in a white sheet but someone else was brought in.

Glancing to the room, Nel’s heart panged for the man, his friends looked like they had come to accept the fate of their friend. The man was tall but thin, his face gaunt, eyes starting to sink in. After reading his file Nel learned that he had stage four lung cancer and that there was nothing anyone could do and that the man, Zangetsu had denied chemo, he was now being admitted so he could be on controlled pain medication.

Something the man had to be talked into apparently.

“Miss?” 

Nel turned around to see the purple haired woman standing behind her, she looked a little sadder than her partner but Nel had an inkling that the man was just hiding it better.

“Yes?” Nel used her softest voice, some patients were asleep and she didn’t want to wake them, it was rather late when they came in and had their friend admit himself.

“Would it be a problem to get some water in room 564?” Nel jumped slightly at the purr the woman’s voice seemed to have naturally. She nodded with a small smile and hurried off to get some water for the patient. 

As she came back into the hall to get to the patient’s room, Nel looked down quickly to stabilise her tray when she accidentally slammed into someone. The tray met the floor with a bang and the glass jug she was carrying shattered on impact with the ground.

Her fall was saved but two strong gripped hands grabbing onto her biceps, effectively stopping her from tumbling to the ground. 

Looking up she saw two deep amber eyes peering down at her with a small scattering of concern in them. He helped her righten herself before taking a small step back and dropping to his knees. Nel watched in shock for a few seconds as the man who had a crazy hair colour that could rival her brother’s, calmly pick up the shattered pieces of jug.

Snapping out of her shock she quickly kneeled and helped the man clean up her mess.

“I am so sorry sir, I just looked down for a second and…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry. No one got hurt.” The man’s voice was a low one, not as low as Grimmjow’s who had a natural gravel tone to his, this man’s voice was more like velvet.

“Whose water was this?” The man asked once they had all the glass pieces in the tray and a janitor quickly mopping the water away. Nel looked over the man’s shoulder to see that the blond man and purple haired woman were peeking from the doorway.

“Room 564.”

The man’s face seemed to almost glitch for Nel as his face twitched, his lips sinking into a deeper frown before it was gone.

“Please get another one?” The man’s tone was soft as he handed the tray back to Nel. Nel nodded frantically as she turned to get another jug. Turning the corner to go back to the kitchen she looked back to see the man standing at the doorway to room 564, a sad look on his face before he took a step inside.

A new tray in hand, Nel made her way into room 564, the man and woman were gone, the young man was sitting on the end of the man’s bed, they were looking at each other, almost like they knew she would be stepping into the room.

“I’ll go to your place and grab a few more books, is there anything else you want?” The man asked as he got up, his lanky frame belittling the strength Nel felt in his hands.

Zangetsu seemed to ponder on it before he slowly nodded. He coughed but waved both Nel and the other man away.

“My journal in my bedside table and the pen.” The man nodded before he stepped closer and placed his hand on Zangetsu’s, Nel could see the hand tense as the hand gave a small squeeze.

And then the man was breezing past her, just the gentle breeze of his movements brushing past her as he left. Standing somewhat awkwardly, Nel shifted from one foot to the other. Zangetsu glanced at the door before he looked her way.

A soft, barely there, uplift of the left corner of his lips hand Nel relaxing slightly.

“Ichigo is an intense character, you will learn in due time.” Nel huffed a small laugh as she walked to the side table and placed the tray down. She poured water into the plastic cup and handed it to Zangetsu who took it and downed the whole lot before he handed the cup back.

Nel looked at the man, her tongue burning with her question.

Zangetsu seemed to have noticed it as he looked at her and lifted a brow in question.

“Is Ichigo you son?”

Zangetsu looked out the door and took a deep breath, as deep as someone with lung cancer could.

“Adopted son, but he is still my son.” Nel smiled.

“I’ll leave you to rest, are you fine with your pain level?” Zangetsu nodded once before he used the remote to lower his bed slightly into a better sleeping position.

Nel closed the door on her way out.

________________________________________

Nnoitra looked up from his microwave mac and cheese to see Nel come in, her shoulders a little more slumped than usual.

“Bad day?” Nnoitra asked around the fork in his mouth. He was surrounded by case files, rereading all they had at the moment, which wasn’t a lot, even with Fifteen’s involvement.

Nel looked up at him and smiled softly at the sight of him. Long lanky frame hunched over the kitchen table, one big hand holding the bowl of mac and cheese, fork in mouth. She walked up to the table, glanced at the files before walking to the fridge and pouring herself a glass of juice.

“We lost a patient and gained another; he essentially came in to die with as little pain as possible.” Plopping down on a chair, she watched as Nnoitra pack away his files into a neat stack before they vanished into his bag. 

Now having her fiancé’s attention, Nel explained.

“The patient, he has stage four lung cancer, there isn’t much the doctors can do except make his pain less with morphine. It is why his in the hospital now, controlled drugging.” Nnoitra slowly nodded as he finished the last fork full of his mac and cheese, his face thoughtful.

“Does he at least have people there for him?” He watched as Nel’s lips twitched in a small smile.

“Yes, it seems he has two good friends and a son. I met him in the hallway, he looks like the brooding type Grimmy likes.” They both snorted, thinking on Grimmjow’s words when Nel asked him why.

“Brooding usually leads to a lot of pent-up energy, I like that energy.” Nnoitra quoted, Nel smiled for a few seconds before it dropped off her face.

“But, I can see that the guy is taking it hard. I don’t know how I know but something tells me that the son really loves his dad. He’s adopted so that’s maybe it.” Nel shrugged and sighed, taking Nnoitra’s bowl and fork, she stood and walked to the sink.

Dishes cleaned, Nnoitra had taken the time to lock up properly and was waiting for her at the base of the stairs, hand extended.

Nnoitra woke to a sleeping Nel, it was her day off. Being as careful as possible, Nnoitra extracted himself from the bed and got into the shower. After finishing his bathroom routine, he came into the bedroom to see Nel blinking up at him with sleepy eyes, her left hand next to her face on the pillow, the ring glittering in the morning sun streaking through the space between the curtains. Nel took it off for work, had it around her neck on a chain but when she clocked off, she had it back on her finger.

“Be safe.” Nel mumbled out, her lips slightly squished against her pillow.

Nnoitra snorted but nodded none the less, bending down to kiss her softly before he was out the door and in his car.

At work he walked in to see Grimmjow blankly staring at the photo of their wanted group. Two of the men were now known, one six feet under and the other in jail. The others were still unknown to them, the women they had a small break through, the one woman was identified but that’s were the good luck ended as the woman had been killed.

Riruka had been assassinated, in police custody even.

The man who killed her, killed himself through the police by getting shot multiple times. There was nothing to gain from there as the woman was an orphan and had no none associates. No family, no friends, nothing. They couldn’t even interview her to get more information on the group she worked for as she was killed before she could spill the beans.

“Hey.” Nnoitra grunted as he passed his friend, Grimmjow looked up and frowned at him, without saying a word he got up and followed after, his empty mug in hand.

In the kitchen Nnoitra went about starting a new pot of coffee before he turned around and looked at Grimmjow.

“Nel had a bad day yesterday, might wanna give her a call to cheer her up, know you two chat an all that.” Nnoitra grunted off as he looked at the walls of the kitchen. Nnoitra knew that a bad day was nothing bad per say but Nel got involved with her patients, caring and always willing to listen. Nnoitra knew that telling Nel not to won’t work as it was just who Nel was as a person, she was a very caring person.

That caring quality made her susceptible to heartbreak when a cancer patient didn’t make it.

“She lost a patient?” Grimmjow asked, not taking his eyes off Nnoitra’s face, making sure to not miss anything.

“Yeah, she also got a patient that basically came in to die with as little pain as possible.” Grimmjow pulled a face, his lip corner lifting up while his eyes flinched. He handed his mug after a while, the two men standing in silence.

“She met the man’s adopted son. Said you’d probably like him enough to try and get into his pants.” Grimmjow snorted but his eyes urged him on.

“Said he was the brooding type. And, knowing how your taste goes, she also probably meant he was a real looker too.” Nnoitra saw the interest in his friend’s eyes grow. He smirked down at his friend and gave a huff of laughter.

“If you want to know more, you’re going to have to call your sister.” Nnoitra saw Grimmjow nod his head before taking a sip. 

“When do you think Fifteen will strike again?” Grimmjow asked Nnoitra as they walked back to their desks. The taller man shrugged as he sat down on his chair, his long limbs sprayed out as he thought about it.

“Not sure, he probably has more info than we have, so, he’s probably planning something, and seeing as it has been a few weeks, it is probably something big.” Harribel answered from her desk, both men looked up at her as she spoke, their heads slowly nodding as she finished.

“That is the most logical reason.” Ulquiorra piped in as he came into the room, holding the laptop now reserved for Fifteen’s gifts.

Starkk came in with Aizen on his heels, the man seemed relaxed so Grimmjow guessed that it wasn’t bad news.

“There is a fundraiser event coming up, the mayor has been kind enough to not cut our funding as much as he wanted to,” Aizen’s right eyebrow twitched slightly, the only sign that the man was not all that pleased. “He has asked us to come and represent the FBI, one of the best teams, if we all behave well and put on a nice show for the man, we will get some of the money from the fundraiser.” The team all looked at the man with slow blinks.

No one on the team was all that into fancy parties and milling with the ‘upper class’. The only one who had some sort of practice was Kaien, his family being a wealthy one. 

“You want us at a fancy party?” Grimmjow asked while rapidly swishing his index finger between himself and Nnoitra, the other man not offended at all, give a nod to show he agreed at the sheer obscurity of the notion.

Aizen merely gave an amused smirk.

“I’m positive you can all act like you want to be there for at least an hour.” That was all the team really needed to hear, their boss only wanted them to be there for an hour, they could go home after that.

“You are all allowed to have a plus one.” Aizen nodded to Starkk before the man strutted out the door.

“Better call Nel and tell her to get a fancy dress.” Nnoitra huffed before picking up his phone.

Grimmjow just smirked at his friend, he saw through the man’s act, he loved it when Nel dressed up.

The smirk fell off his face when he realised that he wouldn’t have a plus one, in fact most of their group wouldn’t have a plus one. With Harribel married to her job and three adopted daughters, Starkk who’s also just too busy to get into dating, Ulquiorra who’s asexual and himself. Kaien had a wife and Nnoitra had Nel.

Shrugging the lonely thoughts away, Grimmjow listened in on Nnoitra explaining to Nel what the fundraiser would be, asking Starkk for more details on when and where it would be.

It was to be the Saturday and it would start at six.

________________________________________

Looking around, Grimmjow fought hard not to grimace at the sheer ostentatious room he found himself in. The fundraiser was forty minutes in, there was everything from waiters walking around with flutes of sparkling wine while other walked around with over-the-top canapés, it all reeked to Grimmjow, of people showing off they had more money than brains.

“Don’t frown so openly.” Grimmjow looked beside him to see Starkk, a glass of sparkling wine in hand, bored there as well, pale blue eyes scanning the area constantly.

“Yeah, I’ll try really hard to ignore all the showing off.” Grimmjow replied softly, for Starkk’s ears only. The man huffed a small laugh but it didn’t last before the serious look was back, the constant scanning around the room.

“Think he’ll show up here?” Grimmjow asked somewhat disbelievingly. It was a very well protected room, the only weak point Grimmjow had yet to see was the glass ceiling but that would require equipment and training that not many people had.

“If his target is here and from what I could gather, he likes to publicly show off that these people are bad, humiliate them. Probably linked to his time being ‘trained’.” Starkk’s free hand made a sloppy air quote sign.

“Not that I blame him for doing it, helps us in the long run so, he can keep going in my book. He isn’t hurting anyone innocent as far as we’ve seen, unless you call stamping rapist on someone’s forehead as assault.” The twitch of Starkk’s lips let Grimmjow know they the man did know that it was actually a form of assault.

The lights dimming all for one made the two men look to the mayor who had a glass of bubbly in hand. The man’s smiled at the room, seeming to happy to be at the fundraiser.

“Greetings guests, I am so glad you could all join us…” The man talked… and talked… and talked.

Well, that was how it felt to Grimmjow, the man had a silver tongue, with small lies and embellishments even he could pick out, well the man was a politian. He looked around once more, spotting all his teammates, Nnoitra was the easiest to spot, the damn half giant easily a head and shoulder above everyone else. Nel would be somewhere nearby in her fancy halter top floor length dress in a pretty plum colour that had Nnoitra almost growling at any man who gave Nel a prevy look. 

Harribel was chatting with Ulquiorra, the two obviously ignoring the mayor’s droning, they too seemed somewhat on edge, Grimmjow knew that they were on alert, ready to move if something were to happen.

Kaien and his wife stood near the back with the rest of the man’s family, his older cousin and head of the family Isshin Shiba and his wife Masaki looked as prim and proper as always. The couple had gone on to have twin girls five years after their son went missing, their hope for finding their son never fully diminishing, when it was revealed that the child who had been stolen all those years ago had escaped, it rekindled the family’s search for their missing son.

Looking around one more time had Grimmjow spotting Aizen, he was softly speaking to a blond man, the man’s hand movements seemed excited and overly flamboyant, the women next to him was a looker, her mocha skin and deep purple hair had many men look. Her shapely form and almost yellow brown eyes made Grimmjow think of a cat.

As the mayor seemed to end his speech, the glass from the ceiling suddenly broke with an ear-piercing screech, the glass falling in large chunks before splintering off into smaller pieces.

The timing could not have been better, the area under the glass ceiling was the dancefloor, the round area void of anyone while the mayor was speaking.

A black rope tumbled down after the glass, a human figure holding onto the rope tightly came sliding down, clipped to the end of the rope with a foot in metal triangle, harness clipped onto the rope as well. Their landing was solid, they ended up in a kneel, their head bowed, there was silence as everyone looked on in shock, the guards had their guns pointed at the man, Grimmjow’s heart jumped into his throat.

Grimmjow, the Shiba clan, Aizen and his friends were the ones to get the best look for when the man lifted his head and revealed the scary mask of Fifteen.

Fifteen was decked out in all black, from the head mask he wore underneath the mask from the tips of his fingers, his whole body was covered. His boots seemed military grade, his pants had two thigh belts one each leg, one had what looked to be throwing knives while the rest were small pockets.

The man looked intimidating as hell.

“Surprise.” The voice that came out was obviously masked by some sort of voice distortion, the voice sounded watery, yet growly.

The guards yelled at Fifteen to raise his hands, slowly the man rose to his feet, his hands being raised till they were next to his head, the yellow eyes of Fifteen were slanted in what looked like a grin. It made the grin of the mask even more intimidating.

“Sure.” It was then that Grimmjow saw the small remote in Fifteen’s hand, another one of his signatures. The lights went off, but unlike the last two times they didn’t stay off, they flickered in quick sessions, making them give a strobe light effect that was easily crippling for the poor guards that had no chance of getting to Fifteen. They were unwilling to fire blindly into a room where there were innocents bystanders.

The man seemed unbothered as he slipped into the crowd, women screamed in fright while some tried to get the man who made his way deeper to the back of the room. The lights went off for a long period, there was the sound of a scuffle but the panicked crowd was a good cover to find exactly where Fifteen was.

Grimmjow felt the all too familiar brush up against him, he didn’t try to catch Fifteen, he stayed calm.

He did jump when he heard Fifteen mutter softly.

“A present.”

When the room was flooded with light again Fifteen was back in the centre of the room, foot already in place at the metal footing, hand gripping the rope. The man gave a small chuckle when his eyes flicker to where he had gone to the back of the room before blowing into a full-blown belly laugh that had tints of hysteria in it, as the rope was yanked and Fifteen ascended upwards, all the while laughing in glee. 

All eyes followed the man up until he was out of sight, the pully machine falling to the ground and causing a ruckus as it exploded into pieces. Only then when the room was silenced did everyone look to where the man had gone.

Gasps filled the room when they saw the mayor’s son duct taped to a pillar, his mouth duct taped as well, and written over it, ‘I sold my sister.’ The mayor went pale as he looked at his son. He walked up to his son and looked at the young man as he struggled, the man just looked at his son.

It sparked Aizen and Starkk to secure the room, asking the guests to stay where they were. Back up was called and the room was sealed until order could be established.

Grimmjow went to stand near Nel, he overheard the Shiba clan asking Kaien what had happened but the man was tight lipped and told them he couldn’t talk about it. Grimmjow gained some respect for the man, it must have been hard not to tell your family that the man who they just saw was their missing family member.

Only once all the guests have been interviewed and they had left, did the Starkk throw him a questioning look, feeling his pocket, Grimmjow felt the familiar rectangle. He gave a short nod of conformation. Starkk nodded and walked to Aizen, whispering into his ear.

Leaving the teams who were called to gather evidence and search the room and the roof, Grimmjow and his team headed back to their building, Aizen and the mayor in tow, they son had been taken into custody.

________________________________________

Ichigo walked into his apartment and sighed.

He knew that what he had done was risky, but the mayor’s son was a sneaky bastard who hid his tracks well when he wasn’t protected by his father’s mini army of guards.

His heart went out to the mayor, while he was a politian, he wasn’t a bad human. 

Getting his gear off was a long process, he was glad he didn’t have to use anything besides his fists, duct tape and the marker. The mayor’s son was a scrawny thing, didn’t take much but Ichigo had to wonder how the mayor who had a lovely wife and seemed to have a good up bringing for his kids ended up with a son like he had.

He guessed some people just liked to be bad.

Stashing his gear in his duffle bag, Ichigo took a shower and sighed as he sat down on his bed, his hair dripping onto the floor as he hung his head. His mind filled with conflicting thoughts, on one side his worries for Zangetsu plagued him, he knew there was nothing he could do. On the other side it was that damn blue haired FBI agent, the man had something that just called to Ichigo.

He was unsure why Grimmjow seemed to get a reaction out of him when Ichigo barely knew anything about the man, other than that he was a hard worker and had a sister who was now engaged to his friend Nnoitra.

Rubbing his face, he tried to get the image of Grimmjow dressed in a suit out of his mind, he didn’t have time to now suddenly find someone attractive, it wasn’t something he wanted. He doubted he could ever have a healthy relationship.

He knew he couldn’t hide what had happened to him from someone who would expect a romantic relationship to eventually move to sexual activities, Ichigo was unsure how he would react to something like that, he was still unsure, even fearful. 

The door opening had him looking up to see Urahara and Yoruichi. They both gave him one look before Yoruichi walked to the bathroom and brought a towel with her, Ichigo was thankful he at least put some pants on.

Urahara sat next to him and sighed a long sigh.

“That couldn’t have gone better.” He remarked, side-eyeing Ichigo who allowed his wife to towel dry his hair for him.

A low hum came from Ichigo as he just sat.

Once Yoruichi was finished and his hair was pretty much dried, Ichigo stood and picked up his duffle bag, handing it to Urahara.

“That should keep them busy for a while, I gave them a good number of leads, pictures and evidence this time.” Urahara nodded, he had seen what Ichigo had sent, the first lead on the flash drive was a crucial one. He had advised Aizen to work fast, the man always willing to listen to him, being an ex-FBI agent himself, Urahara knew the ins and outs, it was what made Aizen so willing to talk to him.

Aizen however didn’t know that Urahara know Fifteen and all his plans.

“They should be working on it now. Why don’t you get some rest and come over tomorrow for dinner?” Urahara looked at Yoruichi who nodded in agreement. The former CIA agent has more than once told her husband that she was worried for Ichigo’s mental health.

Ichigo nodded as he walked with them to the door, the greeted and Ichigo locked down before flopping onto his bed, uncaring of how he fell asleep.

Blue eyes flashing in his mind’s eye before he fully succumbed to sleep’s hold.

________________________________________

The tech room was silent as they all stood around the computer, the mayor had been filled in as much as possible, now being involved in the case to some degree. Aizen had explained it all with the help of Starkk. 

Mayor Hector looked shocked and somewhat disgusted as he was told about what the men, they had caught with Fifteen’s help, had done. His disgust turning into horror when he was told that there was a chance of his son being into the same rings.

He demanded to see what was on the flash drive when explained how they got their evidence. 

It was agreed to be quick about it as this time, Fifteen had targeted someone very publicly known.

The flash drive was inserted and the window popped up.

Ulquiorra’s eyebrows went up in shock.

“What?” Starkk asked, a little worried when his usually stone-faced subordinate made an actual face.

“This flash drive has substantially more data than those previous, this one has triple the amount of data.” The room looked at the screen with some dread at the very thought of what they were about to find.

A double click, and they opened the flash drive, the new window holding fifteen files like always, and like always a little window popped up again.

Only this time it was a short message, it was direct and somehow had a sense of urgency about it.

“Open the first file, the rest can wait. You are against the clock.”

Ulquiorra opened the first file without pause and they all gasped in horror at what they found.

Hector even gave a small whimper of pain.

Valorie, his daughter who went missing a year ago. Without a trace, was in the first picture, it was clear she had been beaten and her clothes were ripped at concerning places. 

And in the picture with her, holding her arm in a clearly painful grip was her older brother.

Luccas ‘Luppi’ Antenor, being handed a thick wad of money from a man, who they all knew without looking back was in the picture of their wanted group.

“Fuck.” Grimmjow hissed.

Looking through the rest of the information given they all got hope when it seemed that Fifteen had found their base and had given them everything he had, his small notes said as much, it was the first time they had gotten footnotes from the man, but it was clear that this was a big sex trafficking ring and Fifteen knew he wouldn’t be able to handle it on his own but the full force of the FBI could.

“Get the teams ready.” Aizen ordered before he gently herded the mayor out of the room.

The group heard the mayor growl out.

“That son of mine will rot in jail.”

________________________________________

I am so sorry for the delay but with Christmas and family popping out of the wood word I didn’t have much time to write as I’d like.

Again, if you see any blunders on my part, please let me know so I can fix it.

Once this story is done, I will be going back to fix small errors but if I did a big one please lemme know. Thanks, and I hope you all had a lovely holiday with whatever it is you celebrate.


	6. Chapter 6

I’d just like to say to all the commenters for the last chapter, you are too sweet, thank you, all the comments I receive bring me joy and strength to continue.

________________________________________

Chapter 6

Grimmjow handed the last batch of flowers to Nel’s maid of honour, Matsumoto was another nurse Nel worked with, the two had become best friends in a matter of weeks. Grimmjow had been surprised when he found out that Matsumoto was married to Gin of all people, the sneaky assistant director was a tall, thin man with a Cheshire grin like no other.

“There, all finished.” Matsumoto stepped back and took in the room.

Doing the same, Grimmjow looked at all the tables, Nel had been given a budget by both her parents and Nnoitra’s who fell for Nel the moment they met her, she had more than gained her future in-laws approval and they showed it by showering her with a big budget so she could make their son and her wedding everything she would want it to be and whatever money was left over, they could keep.

Nel had gone simple but elegant, much like she was in her dress style. She knew Nnoitra wouldn’t be comfortable with an overly fancy wedding either.

Matsumoto sighed with pride, her face one of pure happiness.

They, the marrying couple had decided to keep their wedding small. Most of their friends were from the same circle and Nnoitra and Nel didn’t have jobs they could be away from for long.

“You okay? Matsumoto asked, her cool grey eyes looking up at him, she knew the look on Grimmjow’s face, Gin didn’t tell her about any cases, he knew she was too soft to handle the details of what he saw on a regular basis.

“Yeah, just last few weeks have been rough.”

Grimmjow knew inside, they last few months had been rough.

After they had gotten the teams ready, they were off to the location given by Fifteen, the man had made many stake-outs on the place, it was clear by the sheer amount of info he had on the place. They had all details they would ever need. He had their schedules down, their coms were even hacked and they had their way in there as well.

Fifteen was a very meticulous man, he was almost OCD in how his data was complied, something which Ulquiorra was thankful for as the man himself had no issue finding anything they needed, the data was put forward in such a way that it seemed that Fifteen understood how and when it would be needed.

That or he was giving hints.

Probably both, Grimmjow thought as he absently walked around, he had been dressed and ready to go, the black slacks, white button-up shirt, last two buttons unbuttoned. Nnoitra had flat out refused to wear a tie to his wedding, something that had Nel smiling at him fondly.

Seeing a bench, Grimmjow sat down and looked around the venue, it was a pretty lush green venue with several different areas that they had for occasions.

Nel had gone with the largest space they had, it included a pretty semi-forest area that Nel fell in love with, the reception area was a plain looking building on the outside but inside it had a high ceiling, pretty shiny wood floors and dark wood walls, it was everything Nel wanted and she was even happier when she found out that they had a cancellation, so they got the venue without a deposit as the previous client offered to let the next person get the venue.

Grimmjow wondered what had caused said client to do such a thing but shrugged it off.

Thinking back to the raid two months earlier, Grimmjow shuddered involuntarily at the metal flashes that flashed through his mind’s eye.

That base of the trafficking ring was one of the worse he had ever seen, and he had seen a few. 

They had people in cages, more than five per small cage, squished and scared out of their minds.

Valorie was with what Fifteen marked as the ‘high quality’ merchandise, it was not his words but the bastards who ran the ring, they had a high, medium and low quality they would ‘rate’ their captives as, the pretty, young and important got into high, pretty and young had you in medium and everyone else, was low.

It was a small bit of relief for the mayor as it meant his daughter was treated far better than those in the low category.

She was found being ‘trained’. A vision Grimmjow wished he could bleach from his mind, she was bound to a table, wrists and ankles chained so she was spread eagle and no way of defending herself from the sex toy that was being violently rammed inside her.

Again, it was a small relief that she was in high class category as it meant no one raped her with anything other than a toy, to keep her pure.

The poor sixteen-year-old was a sobbing mess, unable to walk or talk, she clung to Grimmjow as he carried her out. At the hospital she kept clinging to Grimmjow as they documented her abuse. Once she was dressed in a hospital gown, safely tucked into a bed being given fluids, her father and mother were allowed to see her.

It was a tearful reunion that made Grimmjow love his job all the more. It was those moments that kept him going.

The girl was a fighter however, as she took up therapy within a few days of being rescued and was making a steady pace into recovering. The girl having found an online community, a chatroom you needed permission to enter, set up by a group of therapists, so they could talk to people who have gone through the same ordeal. 

Apparently, the girl had made a friend with one of the other users, she didn’t know if the person was a man or a woman but they gave the whole group good advice and hope that they too could overcome their trails.

The mayor had showed up a few days before the wedding at their office, the daughter beside him.

Her once long black hair was now cut shorter, her skin almost cleared of all the bruises, the only ones remaining being the faint yellow tinged ones around her wrists.

She had thanked them all profusely, bowing slightly to show her gratitude. The group was quick to tell her the truth that the true hero was Fifteen. The mayor had agreed full-heartedly, so much so that he released a small but approved tweet explaining that the FBI had gotten help from a good Samaritan, the man spun the tale so well that there was only little outcry that a vigilante was on the loose.

Many didn’t care, it was clear that Fifteen was helping and he was a true hero.

Grimmjow snorted softly to himself, wondering how Fifteen had taken to the news of being called a hero. He wondered if the man even cared. Said man seemed to be on a personal mission and part of Grimmjow wanted to think that the man was helping because he wanted to help, but from what they all discussed, the man was probably very jaded, cold and scarred.

“There you are.” Looking up, Grimmjow smirked at his dad, Marshal was trying to put on a nonchalant act but he was failing in Grimmjow’s eyes. It was clear to Grimmjow that the man was very proud of his daughter.

Marshal grunted when he sat down next to Grimmjow.

“You know, I honestly still thought you’d get married before Nel, find a good man and make a home for yourself but…” Marshal shrugged. He had very easily accepted Grimmjow when he came out as gay, it wasn’t that hard for the man as he just wanted his kids to be happy.

When his wife passed away a few years after Grimmjow turned eighteen, of breast cancer, it had made him more determined to see his kids happy. Her mother passing away of cancer was what pushed Nel into nursing, seeing the nurse who helped her mother being a big role model.

Restu Unohana had been a big influence on Nel, the kind yet intimidating woman easily bonding with Nel when her mother was in the hospital, the woman allowing Nel to follow her around into areas she was allowed in, showing her this and that.

“It’s not that I ain’t lookin.” Grimmjow sighed. He would love to settle down but most people didn’t understand his job and how important it was to him, it was something his parents had and what Nel and Nnoitra have, and understanding.

Most boyfriends he had, had gotten mad at him when he had to cancel a date or a trip due to a case having a breakthrough. It had started many fights with Grimmjow ultimately screaming at his boyfriends that they were selfish and heartless before packing his shite and leaving.

“Yeah, working for the FBI isn’t something many people can handle.” Marshal agreed.

The two men sat and watched as the area near the tree line of the forest area get its finishing touches, the last one being the petals on the ground. Looking at his dad Grimmjow smirked, Marshal seemingly feeling his son’s stare looked and saw the face.

“Ready to walk your princess down the aisle?” Marshal huffed and shoved at Grimmjow.

“Yeah, come on. Everyone seems to be arriving. I have a blushing bride to get and you have a nervous wreck to calm down.”

________________________________________

The ceremony was short but meaningful.

After the wedding photos were taken, first dance, dinner, cake and speeches were over and Nel was standing with Nnoitra at the gift table, reading what gift was sent by what friend or family member. They were both slowly going through the list, if it was a box, they would make a guess as to what it was.

It was when they reached the end of the list that Nnoitra stiffened.

Over the music, Grimmjow was barely able to hear his name being called by his best friend. Looking around he saw his tall friend with his new wife at the gift table. Making his way closer he was able to see that Nnoitra was unsure and a little uneasy about something.

“Somethin wrong?” 

Nnoitra gave Nel a small glace, she was still looking at the list, a look of pure confusion on her face.

“Who’s fifteen?”

Grimmjow looked up at Nnoitra, eyes wide.

“I say opening one gift won’t hurt.” Grimmjow muttered, getting a frowning look from his sister.

“We’ll tell ya later but it is someone we know of.” Nnoitra explained as he opened the box, it wasn’t wrapped or labelled with anything apart from a small tag reading ‘Congratulations, from Fifteen.’

Peeking inside they saw two small boxes and a very familiar flat rectangle under a folded piece of paper.

“Another one? We haven’t even gotten through the last one he gave us.” Nnoitra hissed as he picked up the flash drive and letter, handing the letter to Grimmjow. Grimmjow flipped the paper open, and soon relaxed.

Nnoitra gave his friend a questioning look.

“It’s not work-related. It’s just him wishing you two a happy and long marriage, he also says that the flash drive has information to a bank account with some money. Says it’s a gift from him along with the two other ones. Says that good people deserve something nice.” Grimmjow handed the letter over to Nel who read it, her lips smiling softly.

The other two gifts turned out to be matching wrist watches.

________________________________________

When Nel came into work the next week, after a lovely honeymoon, she felt dread all day.

In her heart she knew, Zangetsu was worsening by the day, it was clear that the man had only a few days left to live. About late afternoon Ichigo showed up, a new book in hand, the frowning look he always seemed to wear present.

She watched from the desk as the man walked into the room.

A few minutes later Urahara and Yoruichi came, and again Nel watched as they entered the room.

It was quiet, a slow day, or so it seemed.

Before a dreaded beeping noise followed by an alarm went off.

It was a blur to Nel, after that.

She and a fellow nurse rushed into the room, a doctor following shortly, Ichigo was being held back by both Urahara and Yoruichi, the two seeming to struggle to keep the man in the corner of the room. The man was trying to reach for Zangetsu but the man was not responsive.

He wasn’t breathing.

Ichigo released a yell that broke something in Nel, it was filled with such anguish that even Unohana flinched where she stood. He thrashed a few times before stilling entirely. 

And there was nothing they could do.

The blare of the heart monitor flatlining filled the room, Ichigo’s stretched out arm fell limply to his side. He stood motionless, the doctors and nurses watched after they backed off, one doctor calling for time of death.

“17:24.” Unohana answered softly as she watched the young man stumble one step before walking towards the bed, his amber eyes locked on his father. They all watched as the young man reach out and gently rest his hand on the man’s chest.

Nothing happened for a few minutes before the man suddenly bolted from the room at a very fast pace, shocking the staff.

“Ichigo!” Urahara called out, rushing to the door just to see Ichigo slam into the exit and into someone who was coming in, almost sending the poor man to the ground.

“Hey!” Grimmjow called after the blur of orange and black. The man was pretty much gone when he regained his footing. When he walked into the room and felt the mood of the room instantly, the sombre looks of the staff and the tear-streaked face of his sister.

Without a second thought he made his way to his sister and hugged her tightly as she burst into harsh sobs. Behind her, Grimmjow saw a bed being pushed out, a white sheet covering the human body. Two people stood at the door, one man and one woman. The man holding a duffle bag and the woman a small leather briefcase.

Both looked anguished, the woman had tears slowly running down her cheeks.

It didn’t take Grimmjow long before he recognized the two as the two people Aizen had been chatting to at the fundraiser. He just nodded as the two slipped past him, heads hanging.

He didn’t need to ask what had happened, the small babbles he was able to make out from Nel was enough. Unohana stepped closer, the head nurse gave Nel a sad look before silently gesturing for Grimmjow to stay.

A few minutes later and she returned carrying Nel’s bag.

Grimmjow took Nel home, the car ride was silent, Nel picking at her fingers. Grimmjow cursed his sister in his head for being a nurse but he knew it was what she loved but he just wished it didn’t hurt her so damn much when she lost someone.

Once Nel was home, she asked to be alone. 

Grimmjow just nodded, hugged her close before going back to work, his lunch hour all but ruined.

________________________________________

Run

That was all he could do, run as far away from the hurt as he could.

His lungs burned as he ran, and ran and ran.

Soon his legs burned, his feet hurt. His lungs felt raw and he soon felt numb and collapsed in front of a small café, giving the poor people inside a shock.

People ran to his aid, helped him up. Sat him down and tried to get him to talk but he was numb.

He thought he had longer. 

He just wanted Zangetsu to hold on for one more day, he knew it was selfish but he couldn’t help it. He missed his phone ringing, a woman answering the phone for him, he heard her answering whoever called him, Urahara, his minded added absently.

Someone handed him a warm cup of sugary coffee, he sipped at it without really taking in what he was doing. He just felt numb to the world around him, he didn’t know how long it took for Urahara to get to wherever it was he ran to.

The man’s blond hair filling his view made him blink a few times but he didn’t really answer him, just allowed the man to lead him to the waiting car. He was pushed into the backseat. His phone was handed to Yoruichi who gave him a glance every now and then.

“Zangetsu had a will made out, I’m sure you know.” Ichigo nodded, he felt tired, he wanted to sleep.

“He left you pretty much everything.” Urahara looked back to see Ichigo give him a lazy glare from the back-view mirror. 

“I don’t care.” Ichigo ground out through clenched teeth. Ichigo heard Yoruichi softly mumble to Urahara, he didn’t care what was said, he just wanted to go home.

What he didn’t want was where Urahara took him.

Zangetsu’s apartment. He glared at Urahara and the man actually took a small step back, his eyes wide, Ichigo didn’t know that only his eyes were showing any emotion, his face was blank, even his frown was gone.

“Go and rest.” Yoruichi touched his shoulder softly, her presence calming him slightly.

“I want to go to my home.” Ichigo hissed out, taking a wobbly step back. Yoruichi gave Urahara a ‘I told you so’ look that would have had him amused but right now he wanted to be away from this apartment. Urahara looked at Ichigo and sighed.

“Ichigo, it is what Zangetsu wanted, it is in his will, once he was to be… gone, he wanted me to bring you here. Said that he left something for you. Something only you were to find.” Urahara saw Ichigo perk up slightly but it wasn’t as much as he had hoped. 

He gave Ichigo the apartment key.

The two watched as Ichigo look at the set of keys like they were a bomb, to the man it probably felt like it too. Slowly Ichigo reached out and gently took the keys, like they were made of glass and would break at any minute.

It was clear that Ichigo was conflicted.

Urahara knew it was best for Ichigo to sort out his emotions out himself, once he was calmer, he would train, exhaust himself, think some more, train some more and only then would he come to talk.

Ichigo was in the door before they could say anything else.

The two looked at each other and sighed, the next few weeks would be hard.

On them all.

Ichigo made it to the front door and stood in front of the blue door, the six almost glaring at him. He swallowed heavily, his stomach was in knots, his skull pounded with a headache he didn’t have the energy to deal with.

Opening the door, Ichigo wasn’t ready for the onslaught of emotions that hit him when he entered the living room and saw Zangetsu’s favourite chair… empty.

Being alone, Ichigo had no issued with breaking down into ugly, breath-stealing sobs that shook his entire frame to the ground. His chest felt hollow but, his heart feeling like it was three sizes too big, while being half way into his throat, his eyes burned as he cried, his left shoulder gave a throb, the poor limb taking most of the impact when he collapsed to the ground.

Time seemed to flow around him, Ichigo couldn’t feel anything while simultaneously feeling everything. It became hard to breathe, his breaths turning into hiccupping gasps before everything went black.

When Ichigo woke up, everything hurt and it was dark.

Lifting himself up on shaking arms, Ichigo sat crossed legged, back resting against the couch.

The room was shrouded in darkness, the curtains having not been opened in a while. Ichigo took a shacky breath and stood. 

Looking back at the chair, Ichigo saw that the chair wasn’t as empty as he thought. There sitting against the backrest of the chair was a while standard paper size envelope. Sitting innocently with his name written on it in Zangetsu’s handwriting.

After turning the lights one, Ichigo faced the chair once more.

Swallowing around the lump in his throat, absently realising his throat was sore, Ichigo moved to the envelope and picked it up gently. 

Refusing to sit in Zangetsu’s chair, Ichigo flopped onto the couch and gently pried the envelop open.

Inside was a thick stack of paper, some stappled together.

Slowly, as to not cause loose papers to accidently fall out, Ichigo removed the pack of paper.

The first few paper packets were what he now legally owned. The new estates he had, the money that would be shortly going to his bank account. Zangetsu had it all down, had it done in such a way that there was no arguing about who got what.

The first loose paper was a handwritten letter to him from Zangetsu.

“Dear Ichigo  
If you are reading this, it means that I have passed on.  
I will not tell you of everything you will gain from my passing as I have been assured by Urahara and my lawyer that all is in place.  
I am writing you this letter to tell you the things I could never seem to tell you in person, in words. I know you were smart enough to know that I care about you greatly.  
But sometimes, words are needed, my only regret is that I could never say these words to you now.  
Ichigo, you came into my life unexpectedly. I was a hitman for the country, my life was always lonely. The day when you ran into me was just another day for me, a dreary day. Then you came along and I wasn’t so alone anymore.  
I knew then when our eyes met that you needed me but I found in time that I needed you.  
You gave my life meaning, a reason to continue on.  
When you came into my life, you needed to be helped, not saved. You saved yourself that day. I am honoured to be in your life, help you grow into the man you have become. I know you will achieve your goal; you do not need me anymore.  
I am saddened that I will not be around to see you victorious and see what you will move onto from there on. I am sure you will continue to protect as you have been.  
Just know that I am proud of you, proud to be your father.  
And I am sorry.”

Ichigo almost crumbled the letter in sheer overwhelming pain, new tears tracked down his face as he reread the later over and over a few times.

“Of course I still need you, you fucking bastard.” Ichigo hissed out into the silence, in the distance he could hear a siren blare.

“Sorry for what?” Ichigo asked the empty room after rereading the letter one more time.

It became clear when Ichigo read the last pack of paper. His heart thundered in his chest as he tried to swallow but it was like his throat had turned onto a desert.

“Shit.”

________________________________________

Grimmjow growled faintly when the ticking of the clock reminded him that time was passing, it had been weeks now, they had gone through everything on the flash drive and there was nothing more for them to gain.

Martin Smith, the latest arrest, was one more man from the picture.

He was a bald man, large and seemed to get a kick out of physically abusing women, beating them to near death then raping them. More than once he had gotten a woman pregnant, he would beat them till they miscarried.

In the picture the man was laughing, head tilted back, clearly loving where the conversation was going.

Two men in the picture were caught and one was dead, that left three more to go but there was one glaring problem. 

One man had his back to the camera, this man was clearly the one in charge.

Before much was said, a knock on the doorframe had them all looking up. Shinji was standing at the door, with a smirk, a strained smirk, on his face. 

The man was as smartly dressed as last time, a pale brown pants, slightly rolled up, snazzy dark brown dress shoes with dark blue visible socks underneath. The man had a slightly paler blue dress shirt and darker brown knitted vest.

“Greetings.” The man grunted as he stepped inside, in his hand he had his jacket, to fight the coming chill of autumn, alongside his visitor badge.

In his other hand he had a very, very familiar flash drive.

Everyone locked onto the small device.

Shinji walked in and it was clear the man was still shaken over something. Grimmjow guessed whatever event ending with him in possession of a flash drive. Shinji handed the drive into Ulquiorra’s wanting hand.

Starkk ordered everyone into the computer room, not that he needed to as everyone was already on their feet.

In the room, Ulquiorra was quick in plugging the drive in.

Once more the window popped open, Ulquiorra clicked the drive open and then another fifteen folders awaited them.

There was only one item in folder one.

A video.

“Before we begin, how did you get this?” Starkk stopped Ulquiorra before he could play the video.

Everyone looked to Shinji, curious to his answer. 

Said man took in a shaky breath.

“Well…”

________________________________________

That’s all for now, I’ll try and get the next chapter done in at least two or three days at most.

Thank you for all the support.

Again, if I made a big mistake somewhere, please let me know.


	7. Chapter 7

Okay so, while I don’t go into the rape scene, I will be highlighting certain things so I will be putting a warning if it’s a trigger for you. Please be safe with your mental health.

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Chapter 7

The group looked at Shinji, waiting on the man to speak.

“Well, you see, I was down at the pub, I had gone back to England and was just having a pint with a mate when suddenly the barman comes over, saying there was a phone call for me. Let it be known I was and still am a little bit shaken up after seeing Fifteen, he brought up a lot of ugly memories.” Shinji was unaware at the confused Americans around him, looking at each other.

“Lemme guess, it was Fifteen?” Grimmjow sat back in his chair, arms crossed.

Shinji nodded.

“His voice was altered but I just knew it was Fifteen, who else even knows about the man?” Shinji shrugged.

“He told me to go home, that there was a present waiting for me. Imagine my surprise when I got home to my flat, got it all locked up and secured, an envelope sitting on my kitchen table, all innocent. Next to a small box. Crazy part is I don’t know how he got my home address. Still gives me chills.” Shinji shivered slightly.

“The envelope had the flash drive and a letter. Letter basically just explained that he wanted me to come back and hand deliver this flash drive to you. The box was a plane ticket and a new hat.” Shinji sounded confused over the hat.

“I didn’t really think too much on it, I called into work, told them I decided to take my vacation time now, they allowed it and here I am.” Shinji shrugged again, more dramatically but he also knew that his tale wasn’t as exciting as what the other had been hoping for.

“Have you seen what is on the drive?” Ulquiorra asked, looking directly up at Shinji, the blond peeked down his nose at the seated man and shook his head negative.

“Then let’s see what Fifteen has gifted us with.” Starkk’s voice made Shinji jolt slightly, the man looking behind him to see the smirking brunette. Shinji felt his cheeks bleed red, with a huff he looked back at the screen.

Ulquiorra clicked on the video file.

The media player popped open and it was clear to see it was from a surveillance camera’s feed. It was looking down on a hallway, a dirty rather narrow hallway. The camera wasn’t the best quality but it was clear enough to make out the two guards in the hallway, there was even audio that was better quality than the somewhat grainy texture of the video. 

It also became clear that the guards were also British. They were mucking off, pushing and shoving at each other in a playful manner.

“This could be why Fifteen took so long to give a new flash drive, he was in a different country.” Grimmjow spoke softly, the room all nodded along.

The recording continued, the men talking about how the new batch that came it were a good-looking batch. In very lewd words. One even spoke about how he would love to pump one poor soul full of drugs and have his way with her, his hand placed in front of his crotch while he made fast hip thrusting movements.

All the other man did was laugh and admit that there was one or two who caught his eye as well.

Both men were rudely interrupted when the window behind them exploded as a body came jumping through, they rolled into a kneeling position. Both men looked at the figure, he seemed to hulk in the hallway.

“Surprise.”

It was Fifteen’s voice, the man lifted his head and there was the mask, it all its fearsome glory.

The two guards jumped into action, aiming their guns at Fifteen but he was already halfway down the hallway, weaving this way and that till he was standing in front of the closest guard. 

Grimmjow watched with the rest of the group, with wide eyes as Fifteen grabbed the back of the man’s head and rammed it into the wall, causing the man’s face to leave a mark on the now cracked plaster of the wall.

The other man had managed to get a few shots off but they all missed as the man was clearly not all that mentally prepared for Fifteen to pop up out of nowhere, well, Grimmjow hoped no bullets hit their target.

They watched as Fifteen grabbed the gun off of the guard, wrestling it away easily from the man before cocking his arm back and hitting the guard hard in the face with the butt of the gun. The guard crumbled to the ground. Fifteen looked at the gun in his hand and quicker than anyone Grimmjow has ever seen, dismantled the pistol and threw the pieces far and wide but kept the clip.

“Smart.” Starkk mumbled as they continued to watch.

The camera flickered to a new camera’s view just as Fifteen violently kicked the closest door down, the men on the other side were clearly in a rush to get ready, some already with pistols, bats and knifes in hand.

Fifteen didn’t waste a second as he threw what looked like a grenade into the room, the loud bang and flash was all they needed to know that it was a flash bang grenade. The men yelled in pain as they were blinded, some even tumbling into each other.

Working quickly but with meaning, Fifteen took down the men one at a time, taking out those with guns first. He would knock their hands to the side before he either punched them in the face or sweeper kicked them onto their back before giving a knocking blow.

Grimmjow couldn’t believe how fluidly the man moved, he seemed to have such an awareness of the space around him, he dodged and weaved around the mad slashing of knife wielders, one man he even caught their wrist before he lifted his leg and clocked the man with his knee on the ear.

There weren’t many men in the room to begin with but it was still impressive how easily Fifteen had the men on the ground groaning.

Fifteen then did something they didn’t expect, to each man he moved, silent like a dark shadow on the grainy video and zip-tied each and every man, even the two in the hallway. Fifteen then moved out of the room back into the hallway just in time to see three more men come rushing up the steps, clearly confused about the ruckus but also unarmed. Like they thought that the top floor would only be a scuffle between fellow criminal and not an intruder.

What must have been a frightening image awaited them at the top of the stairs, all the time the camera followed.

They were able to see Fifteen looking down at the three men, from the top of the stairs. They all flinched and bolted as Fifteen suddenly reached back and revealed he had a weapon on him after all. 

At first, they thought it was a sword but Fifteen never moved to unsheathe it, the dark long sword like object remained as such as Fifteen walked down the stairs at a calm pace, as if he had all the time in the world.

Armed men met him on the second floor, two men already having their guns out.

Fifteen just chucked another grenade and went on unflinching as it went off, the men then fell victim to Fifteen’s weapon, the man wielding it like a pro, he swung the sword like object into places that would cause harm but not death, the men yelled as they were hit on the thighs, arms, ribs, back and even their hands in the gunners’ cases.

In a matter of a few seconds and Fifteen had six men on the ground, all groaning. They too were zip-tied and the guns dismantled and clips kept.

“He’s amazing.” Kaien whispered, his eyes glued to the screen.

“He sure knows what he’s doin.” Nnoitra agreed as he too was unable to look away from the screen.

The ground floor seemed to be the lesser populated floor as Fifteen only had to take out three more guards with the help of his weapon.

Then, they all watched somewhat amazed when Fifteen walked to the living room, the pigsty that it was, and kicked the mess filled coffee table to the side with a violent kick, the poor table sent flying into the fireplace.

A poor rug was next to get shoved to the side, Fifteen never looking up at the camera, but, constantly looking around, clearly keeping in mind that anyone could come into the room and have the drop on him then.

Under the rug was a trap door.

Again, the camera followed Fifteen down.

This time the camera was better in its quality.

They could now make out that the hallways were cleaner than the upstairs ones. Fifteen prowled down the hallway, it split up into three new hallways, one two each side and one going on. Fifteen looked back and forth, seeming to decide which way to go.

In the end, Fifteen went to the left, his movements were slow, in a way it was like Fifteen was almost part snake with how fluidly he moved.

There were smaller rooms, Fifteen had poked a head in each, it seemed that there was no cameras in these rooms but they saw that Fifteen went into all three rooms and stayed in each for at least ten minutes each before he prowled out and went back into the hallway, back the way he came and continued on to go down the right hallway.

Down that hallway was a single door.

It luckily had a camera.

Grimmjow wish it didn’t.

It was similar to their last raid, cages everywhere but they didn’t seem small enough, they were more like cells, and in each cell was between three to four young girls. All scared out of their minds, screaming in fear when they saw Fifteen but their screams died down when their guards were brutally taken down.

The two men didn’t stand a chance as it seemed Fifteen was becoming angrier, his movements becoming more aggressive, more violent and with the intent to hurt.

One man was just smacked across the face with all of Fifteen’s body weight, his weapon while not sharp, still left damage as the group could make out teeth flying out of the man’s mouth.

The second man got kicked in the groin, Grimmjow guessed Fifteen heard what the man had been saying to the girls, the camera not picking it up. It was clear the man was taunting the girls from how he was gesturing at them.

After the kick, Fifteen used the pommel of his weapon to bash the back of the man’s head, sending him to the ground. After zip-tying the men, he then went to the girls and seemed to calm them down, the older girls seemed to know more about what Fifteen was telling them.

They could only make out a few words Fifteen was saying, it made them all jump when they realised that the man didn’t have his voice modifier on, his voice was low but soft. Almost warm, Grimmjow would say.

It was clear that the man was telling the girls that they were to stay in the cells where they would be safe and he would be calling the police soon, the girls all thanked him. He asked if they were hurt but it seemed that they were only beaten but not sexually assaulted.

That was until one girl informed Fifteen that one girl was removed from the cells and that they didn’t know here she was. Fifteen told her he would look for her.

Fifteen was out the door and down the last hall.

///Rape elements ahead///

Even the camera could pick up on the girl’s screams of pain.

They all watched as Fifteen seemed to freeze for a few seconds before he burst into a dash, with all his gained momentum, Fifteen used his own body to break the door down.

Inside the room the man was completely naked, violating the poor girl. The man was mid thrust, his hand now over the girl’s mouth, his hand big enough to cover both her nose and mouth. She was being smothered.

Her limbs were flaying in their binds, her wrist and ankles bound in what looked like random pieces of clothing, probably the man’s. One arm was bound by a leather belt and was sluggishly bleeding down her arm and then onto the bed, leaving a small red spot beneath her shoulder.

The man didn’t even bother to look around, he just kept going. “Don’t worry man, I’m almost done, then you can have her.” The man laughed smugly when the girl who had been staring at Fifteen seemed to deflate, her mind probably thinking that Fifteen was just another goon, a scary dressed one but a goon none the less.

///Rape elements ended/// 

Grimmjow didn’t know what had been going on in Fifteen’s head but he seemed to have snapped. He yelled, it was full of rage, it was bone chilling, soul freezing. Fifteen ran up behind the man who just jumped at the scream but yet to turn around.

Fifteen yanked the man off the bed harshly, the man meeting the ground with a hard thud and grunt from the man. Fifteen picked up a discarded bedsheet and gently placed it on the girl’s body. The girl was in tears as she watched on fearfully.

Fifteen turned to see the man stumbling to his feet, clearly mad.

“I wasn done ya bastard!” The man attempted to punch Fifteen but Fifteen grabbed the man by the wrist and lifted his knee in a kick, straight to the man’s elbow.

The room flinched at the man’s scream of pain as his elbow was surely broken from the sheer force Fifteen used, the man toppling to the ground, clutching his injured arm bur, Fifteen wasn’t finished.

Fifteen kicked the man in the side of his face, sending the man onto his back. Fifteen then sat on top of the man’s chest, using his knees to pin the man’s arms down. The group the wanted slack jawed as Fifteen unleashed punch after punch, obliterating the man’s face into a messy pulp.

In the mean time the girl managed to slip her one arm from the shirt binding her to the bed, she undid the belt and then undid her leg bindings, she called for Fifteen to stop.

“Stop! You’re going to kill him!”

It seemed to get Fifteen to stop just as his arm was cocked back.

There was a moment where it seemed the video was paused. The three people unmoving. Fifteen stood on wobbly feet and looked at the girl.

“You don’t want him to die?” His voice was soft, it was clear to them watching that Fifteen was softening his voice when he spoke to the girls.

The girl looked down at her hands, one hand covering her still bleeding wrist.

“I don’t care if he dies but if you kill him, you’ll be in a lot of trouble.” Fifteen just looked at the girl, she anxiously fretted around, seeming to look for her clothes, she was still covered with the bed sheet. Fifteen spotted them before her, he carried the articles of clothing back to her and turned to allow her to dress while he zip-tied the man, he whimpered when Fifteen yanked his arms behind his back.

“I’m finished.” The girl said softly.

Fifteen turned around and regarded the girl, she seemed malnourished, very weak looking, her legs were even shaking slightly.

“You look like you’re about to fall down, would you like me to carry you?” The girl clutched her shirt in tight fists but nodded, she did look very tired, the adrenaline leaving her body fast enough that she seemed to be a toy running on the last of the batteries power.

Fifteen walked towards her slowly, making sure not to move too quickly. 

He gently bent and softly placed his forearm behind the girl’s tights and the other behind her back. The girl lowered herself into the man’s waiting arms, he picked her up and started walking. Out the door and down the hallway where the other girls were waiting, they all called out her name.

“Emilia!” Fifteen walked till he was in front of the cells, he gently lowered Emilia to the ground, her feet stumbling in her weary state, Fifteen walked back to the guards and checked them both to see if they had the keys, luckily one of them did.

After unlocking all the cells, Fifteen looked at the group as they came around Emilia, allowing her to use them as a pillow, some taking off jackets to pad the floor for her.

Emilia was one of the older girls, around fourteen.

“Stay in this room, the police will be here soon.”

“You’re not staying?” Emilia asked, her voice sleepy but sad.

Fifteen kneeled at her side, looking down at her, his eyes must have looked very different from the times they had seen them as the girls didn’t seem scared.

“I… I am a shadow, I go where there is darkness being caused by innocent people being hurt. Once the innocent is safe, I no longer need to be there, I return to the shadows. I don’t have a place in the light.” The girls looked at him, the younger ones in confusion but the older ones seemed to understand.

Emilia reached out her uninjured arm, her hand shaking from the effort.

“Thank you.”

Fifteen gently took her hand and gave it a small squeeze before putting it down next to her. 

He got up and left the room, the group watched as the man made his way up the exit hallway, on his way to go back up before he paused. He seemed to be breathing harshly.

After the pause he started stumbling slightly as he made his way back to where he entered but while on the top floor he collapsed to his knees and with them watching his back, Fifteen yanked his mask off and proceeded to throw up violently.

His whole body shook from the strength of it, once he seemed to have nothing left to give, he breathed hard enough for the camera to pick it up. Both hands in clenched fists, one next to the mask that was face up.

Suddenly Fifteen started to punch the wall next to him, only a few times, enough to cause the paint to chip off. After that, Fifteen picked his mask up and placed it back onto his face and walked on like nothing had happened a few seconds ago.

The camera feed seemed to skip half an hour after Fifteen left through the window to when the police broke down the front door.

Watching the police find the men zip-tied like presents was somewhat amusing, seeing their confusion even more so. Them finding the girls was a relief, the girls all but singing Fifteen’s praises.

The feed cut of for good when the last girl was helped out.

No one said anything for a long while.

The ping the laptop gave when a message popped up made everyone look to the screen.

“The rest of the information will have to be shared with Shinji. Your next target works both in the USA and the UK. Play nice. Shinji ask Hiyori to check-up on the girls for me?”

Shinji already had his phone out, texting his blonde co-worker, he knew he wouldn’t get a response soon.

Grimmjow snorted with a grin.

“Damn.” Nnoitra huffed out.

“I hope he didn’t get injured.” Harribel’s words made everyone think back to the few times some of the guards got shots off.

“I am more worried about that reaction he had near the end.” Shinji admitted, his face was one of worry.

“That wasn’t a normal reaction. He’s been so calm and poised that this outbreak makes me think rape is a visual trigger for him. Now the question is, did he see someone get raped or…” Shinji left the sentence unfinished but it was obvious what the man was implying.

“Shit.” Grimmjow sighed and rubbed his face.

“What else could that guy have gone through? How is he functioning?” Kaien spoke softly, his face showed how much it hurt to think that his nephew had possibly been raped.

“Some people just keep going, he seems to have a purpose now but…” Harribel picked at her thumb, her eyes troubled. “People like him fall apart when they have no purpose left.”

The room went silent.

“What else in on the drive?” Starkk asked after a few minutes.

That got everyone back on track and Shinji was allowed to call his boss and explain everything. The man a little bit miffed at the beginning but calmed down when Shinji explained everything. He was all for a joint operation after.

________________________________________

In a motel room, curtains drawn shut, Ichigo removed his gear piece by piece, the laptop next to him was busy downloading the camera feed from the trafficking house.

Ichigo hissed as he removed the bulletproof vest from his body, the four bullets glittering in the low light of the room. Wincing as he gently prodded his ribcage through his t-shirt for ant cracked or broken ribs. He sighed in relief when he found none.

Continuing to take his gear off, Ichigo sat naked on the bed, holding his mask.

His hands shook as he remembered losing it.

He hadn’t lost control like that in a long time.

It brought back the memories of his first time. He was around ten when it happened. Zangetsu had taken him out of America for a while. To allow the media to forget about the hype of the missing baby still alive hype, the numerous people searching every nook and cranny.

They had gone to Brittan, Zangetsu had a house there with a big walled off garden.

It was heaven for little Ichigo.

Ichigo lied down on the bed, the mask falling from his hand and onto the cheap carpet.

He could see it all in his mind’s eye.

///Flashback///

Zangetsu had walked the tutor to the front door to let them out, the woman giving praise to Ichigo, saying that he was a bright boy and that she saw why Zangetsu felt he wouldn’t fit in with the school curriculum.

“He seemed to grasp concepts very easily. I doubt we will have any issues, he seemed like a well-behaved young lad.” The woman was on the older side. She had grandmother vibes surrounding her. Ichigo liked her more than the tutor he had before. 

Knowing he had the rest of the day to himself, Ichigo walked to the TV and grabbed the remote. Zangetsu was more than willing to allow Ichigo a chance to be a kid, more so than any normal parent would. He knew Ichigo would need to be slowly but surely introduced to small things they took for granted.

It was a slow process as Ichigo seemed unable to handle too many new things at once.

Sitting on the couch, Ichigo turned the TV on, the channel it was on was some sort of movie, Ichigo noticed that the movie was not for his age, Zangetsu having to explain it to him, Zangetsu had yet to get a chance to add the parental control to the TV.

At that time, it became clear that maybe Zangetsu should have.

It wasn’t anything violent or aggressive but to little Ichigo the two human bodies undressing and starting to touch was enough to trigger his memory.

Unbeknownst to Ichigo he had started to hyperventilate, his eyes growing wide as his mind replayed that day back to him, over and over again. He could still feel the man’s large hands grasping his ankle, his shoulder or his neck.

Zangetsu entered the room, a question about lunch on the tip of his tongue when he saw Ichigo and his state, he looked at the TV and swore.

He grabbed the remote and turned the TV off before looking at Ichigo, he raised his hand to touch Ichigo when the child convulsed just as his fingertip touched his shoulder. Quicker than Zangetsu expected the child had his finger in his small grip and in a blink of an eye his finger was pushed back and Zangetsu hear more the felt the finger dislocate.

Fighting through the pain, Zangetsu used his other hand to pry Ichigo’s thankfully weaker grip off his finger before he grabbed the child into a full body hug.

“It’s alright Ichigo, listen to my voice, you are safe, they cannot hurt you anymore.” Zangetsu repeated the words over, and over.

It took a few minutes before he felt the child relax in his arm, the small boy resting his head on his shoulder, it only took a minute before the child released a hiccup that seemed to be the catalyst for the flood of tears that came after.

Zangetsu just held the child in a softer hug, ignoring the pain in his hand, the pain was there and he was internally impressed with how quick Ichigo had picked the technique up. The child was truly very bright and seemed to be a quick study.

It was just the panic attacks and triggers they were still working on. The therapist had been informed of everything expect where Ichigo was before he was found. The therapist was a kind woman with a soothing voice.

Ms. Bianca was an angel for them. She seemed to be able to get Ichigo to open up about what he needed to, slowly but as she said, it was best to take the task on slowly and at a pace where Ichigo was the one in charge. He was the one to set the pace. Some days they would make no progress at all but it was fine.

Once Ichigo finished crying he leaned back to look at Zangetsu, it was as he was looking at the man that he remembered that he had attacked. The man watched as Ichigo’s big amber eyes look around to see his hands.

The finger was clearly dislocated and starting to go a dark purple.

More tears filled Ichigo’s eyes but Zangetsu acted quick enough and with Ichigo’s teary eyes on his hands, he showed Ichigo how to push the finger back, the boy’s attention focused on how the finger slotted back with a popping noise.

“See? No need for tears I am fine.” Zangetsu made a fist a few times to show Ichigo that his hand was moving fine, it still hurt but he wasn’t about to tell Ichigo that.

“Are you hungry?” Zangetsu asked Ichigo who still had a few tears stuck to his lashes. The boy nodded his head, it was another thing Zangetsu learned, the boy wasn’t very vocal, he would rather nod than say yes. He put it down to his ‘training’.

“What are you hungry for?” Zangetsu had been told by the therapist to give Ichigo choices, the ability to choose. 

Ichigo pondered his options before playing with his fingers, that told Zangetsu that he was about to ask for something he was encourage not to. It had become clear to Zangetsu from the first time he fed the child that the child had never had anything like a hamburger or macaroni and cheese.

“A salad?” The small voice asked meekly.

Zangetsu just nodded, he would add something fatty into the salad this time, something Ichigo wouldn’t mind too much. Surprisingly avocado was something Ichigo enjoyed.

Picking the child up, Zangetsu carried him to the kitchen and placed him on the island counter so he could watch and even help. The child knew how to handle a blade and while that would scare most people, Zangetsu just ran with it, helped the child when he needed it but always being there when he was needed.

///End Flashback///

The memory faded and Ichigo had to fight to breathe, his heart felt like it was breaking all over again. The urge to call the man’s number was there but Ichigo knew that the man wasn’t there to pick up. Hit with the hurt all over again, Ichigo turned to lie on his side before he cried, he didn’t care for how long, he mourned the man till he fell asleep.

________________________________________

I’m not sure if I made my own deadline but the past few days just… melted into one for me so, if I did miss it by a day, I am so sorry and hope this was good enough.

Again, if I made a mistake somewhere please let me know.

Thank you for all the support!


	8. Chapter 8

Hey y’all, just want to clear something up for next readers, whenever Ichigo is in his full Fifteen gear he wears a head mask that covers that very bright head of hair, hope it wasn’t too confusing.

________________________________________

Chapter 8

Shinji huffed into his slowly cooling cup of coffee, oh what he wouldn’t give for a proper cup of tea right now.

Grimmjow looked at the disgruntled blond next to him, eyebrow raised at the soft grumbles escaping the man’s, dare he say it, pouting mouth. 

“Okay, you have been grumping to yourself since we got here, what’s the deal?” Grimmjow asked, his eyebrow raised while his lips twitched in his attempt to curb his smirk. The blond man next to him glared at him.

Grimmjow found it pretty amusing.

“ Well for one, I really want a good cup of tea but that seems like a hard thing to find and I just wish it was Lisa or Mashiro was the one being sent not… Hiyori.” Shinji groaned wordlessly while sinking forward from the waist up till he was almost folded in half, cup of coffee not spilling a drop. It somewhat shocked and impressed Grimmjow that the man was able to do that.

“What’s so bad about this Hiyori chick?” Grimmjow watched as Shinji straightened himself.

“Fellow MI5, fellow abductee. She got hurt pretty badly so she grew a defence mechanism involving throwing her shoes at anyone who angers her.” Shinji shivered making Grimmjow believe that her aim was pretty good.

“So, basically she’s a hellfire?” Grimmjow inquired with a semi-smirk. Shinji snorted with a smirk of his own but it was soft, almost fond.

“What are you smirking about baldie?” A rather pitchy voice broke their chilled bonding session, both men looked to see a small petite blonde woman standing in front of them, a roller luggage behind her and a duffle bag slung over her shoulder.

She was short, Grimmjow noticed it first but from what he could gather and pester out of his dad, Hiyori had suffered a bad break to her leg and that caused her to have a stunted growth.

He wisely didn’t even remark on her height, just held his hand out for her to shake in greeting. The blonde woman looked at the hand, then to Grimmjow, her eyes revealing that she was somewhat surprised by the lack of jokes.

“Grimmjow, nice ta meet ya.” 

“Hiyori Sarugaki” Grimmjow didn’t react from the woman’s surprisingly strong grip other than give her his signature sharp-toothed grin.

“Come on.” Grimmjow opened the trunk of the sedan he used when on the clock, Hiyori picked up her bag by herself and placed it gently into the trunk of the car. The three then got into the car after the two blondes greeted each other with a grunt of the other’s name.

It didn’t take long for Shinji to start bickering with Hiyori but to Grimmjow’s ears it sounded like playful banter but there was a nervousness to Hiyori’s voice he didn’t know what to make of.

When they got to the office the two blondes walked ahead of Grimmjow.

In room, Starkk watched as the trio come in. They all moved to the briefing room without a peep.

Once everyone was seated, they watched the two blondes in the front as Hiyori set up her laptop to the projector. When she was finished, Hiyori opened her mouth to speak.

“Okay so, when Shinji informed us of what was on the flash drive, he had us get in contact with the girls Fifteen saved. They all basically said the same thing, they were yanked off the street while going or coming from their houses. No girl remembers what their abductor looks like but the guards and the other men they recognised as just workers; the main man of the whole operation was only there two times since they girls were there.”

Hiyori took the remote of the projector and clicked, the screen came to life and showed mug shots of all the men caught when the police came.

Each one looked a little bruised, one was far worse than the others, his face was swollen, bruised and had cuts all over his face. It was pretty clear that this man was the man Fifteen had almost killed when he saw the man raping the young girl.

No one in the room felt pity for the man.

“Using the info that Fifteen gave us, we were able to uncover who the sick fuck running the operation is, meet Vincent Gilare.” Hiyori clicked the remote again and the screen moved onto a man in his late thirties.

He seemed normal looking at first, but the longer Grimmjow and the rest looked, the more it seemed that something was just off about the man.

“He is also in the group shot.” Hiyori went on to show the next slide that had the group shot, Vincent leaning back in his chair, whiskey glass in hand looking all too smug about where he was. The man had a relatively thin face, aquiline nose and deep-set dark eyes and a mouth with a faint scar on the upper right side of his lip.

In general, the man looked like a creep.

“Where is he now? Do we know?” Harribel asked, she was taking notes in their case file.

Hiyori looked somewhat uncomfortable with what she was about to say.

“Vincent is an upper-class citizen in the UK, he has money and a lot of pull, he’s starting to make waves in the political world. From the data Fifteen gave us, Fifteen found out that he will be at a private party this weekend but we can’t get our higher ups to agree with us that we should just arrest him now. As it stands, our hands are tied till WE get information ourselves. Makes me think that Vincent has someone in the higher up’s balls in hand and is squeezing tightly.” Hiyori huffed out in anger and the group felt it, they were all mad to some degree. 

They had evidence, a ton of it and still they could do nothing, the Americans knew there was nothing they could do from their side.

“Guess we have to hope that Fifteen knows somehow and gets Vincent himself because there is nothing we can do.” Starkk huffed out frustrated.

The group just looked at each other and they couldn’t help but worry. They had no means of communicating with Fifteen.

________________________________________

Vincent Gilare smirked into his sparkling wine as he walked away from the police commissioner, the man would get him the addresses of his stolen merchandise so he could reclaim them. He lost a good chunk of money from the potential buyers.

It was a good thing that he had caught the commissioner cheating on his wife with his side piece.

The party he was at was one just to have one for the sake of a party. Important people throwing money at people in high positions to try and gain favour. He didn’t need to throw money at anyone when he had dirt on practically everyone in the room.

This party was held in a fancy hotel’s penthouse suite. It was a chilly winter’s evening so the sliding doors were all closed to keep the heat inside.

While drinking the last sip of his sparkling wine, Vincent looked around for a server, wanting another drink. He saw one quickly and he felt his mouth water at the site of him, the man was young, lean and well built. It was easy to see from the back of the man.

Walking to the server that was currently handing out drinks to some socialites, he waited till the man turned around.

The man had black hair, it was somewhat long, the longest part touching his shoulders, his eyes were a piercing blue, they seemed fierce and the man’s face was a blank one, no emotions to be seen.

“Sir?” The man’s voice was like velvet to his ears.

“I’d like a new drink please.” Vincent asked, giving his most charming smile but it didn’t seem to work on the man as he just nodded his head and made his way to the warded off kitchen.

So, Vincent waited patiently for his drink but before it could be brought to him the lights went off, ladies screamed while men hissed or yelped. The lights remained off but Vincent felt a hand clamp itself over his mouth.

Before he could make a sound, he felt something being injected into his neck and his world turned dark.

When Vincent came to, he was in a room, a room that was in a house if he looked out the windows, he could make out a well-kept lawn in what looked to be an empty backyard. The room he found himself in was also barren in decorations, the white walls stark in their void of colour. 

He was sat on what felt like a dining table chair. His hands were bound tightly, the tingling in his hands told him maybe a bit too tight. His legs were bound to the chair as well, each leg to one of the chairs legs.

The door opened and the waiter from the part came in.

“What is the meaning of this?” Vincent shouted, trying to cause a ruckus for the neighbours to hear, the man seemed to know what he was trying to achieve.

“Don’t bother, this house isn’t close to any other houses, no one will hear you scream.” It was then that Vincent saw the change in the man’s attire. Gone was the white button up and smart black vest and dress pants.

He now wore a pair of baggy black pants and a large black hoodie with the hood pulled over his head.

“People like you make me sick.” The young man hissed, teeth bared in a harsh look that made Vincent jerk back in fright.

The door opened and Vincent was greeted to a sight of a monster.

This figure was tall but that was all Vincent was able to make out. The figure wore black from head to toe, his head cover with black, making the mask the person wore over their face stand out in shocking contrast.

Teeth shaped into a demonic mockery of a grin, yellow eyes glaring down a him.

“What is going on here? Who are you? Release me this instant, I have connections and I will make sure you will be punished for this!” Vincent started off confident but as the figure came closer his tone when increasingly higher in pitch until he was all but squealing. 

Fifteen looked down at the man who had starting to cry, snot already staring to come out of his nose while he pleaded for them to let him go.

Disgust filled his stomach and Fifteen knew that this man was a large contributor to Kūgo’s operation in child trafficking.

The man himself liking to indulge in a boy here and a girl there, and he was brutal, breaking the child into small pieces that can never be put together. Fifteen had been able to save many from their situations but many ultimately took their own lives, unable to live with the trauma this man had put them through.

Hatred boiled in his head as he looked down at the man.

“You’re pathetic.” Fifteen had decided to use his voice modifier on this man, the voice usually terrifying to people not expecting it.

Predictably, Vincent flinched at the first sound of his distorted voice.

“You parade your ‘power’,” Fifteen make air quotes when he said power. “to the world around you like some pigeon trying to masquerading as a peacock.” Fifteen took another step closer to the man, and Vincent tried to get any distance he could from the approaching figure.

“You’re nothing but a sick little bird about to have its wings ripped off.” Vincent cried out when he was smacked against the side of his head. His ear rung and the room spun, he couldn’t make out what the figure said but it didn’t seem to be addressed to him.

“Let’s go, I want to be out of his… company as soon as possible.” Fifteen spoke to his accomplice.

________________________________________

Tensa watched as Ichigo carried the passed-out Vincent into the plane, the flight crew giggling when Ichigo charmed them with a story of how their ‘friend’ got a little bit nervous for his flight and drank his sleeping pill with a class of wine a bit too soon.

The private jet was one in Ichigo’s name, the man had bought it with part of the money he had received from Zangetsu’s will. He still remembered when Ichigo had shown up on his doorstep, the sombre man looking at his face, he probably seeing the resemblance to his father.

Wasn’t that a shocker.

Ichigo had documents in hand, all signed by the very man himself.

DNA test results and a hand written letter explaining that how when Zangetsu was younger he had met a woman, slept with her but due to his work, he feared that the woman and the child would be in danger had they been linked to him in any way.

Tenda was mad at first, till Ichigo told him all about his father and what he did for a living, how dangerous their lives were. How Zangetsu said in the letter that he didn’t want Tensa to feel obligated to follow in his footsteps and that he knew his mother would do right by him.

The massive bank account that was made for him was also a shocker. Zangetsu had made an account and filled it with money over the years, with the intention of giving it to him one day. When he passed, he left Ichigo with all the information.

It was through Ichigo and the letter that he learned that Zangetsu kept track of him all his life, kept watch over him, gave money when his mum struggled. It was with the help of Zangetsu that his mother was able to move to Brittan and get a new life.

All the anger he had, flooded out of him like a damn bursting. Ichigo was there to help, he allowed him to cry and when the tears dried up, Ichigo told him stories, he told him everything, how he and Zangetsu met and how he got custody of little Ichigo.

It created a bond between them, Tensa wanted to come with Ichigo, back to America.

Ichigo agreed but only after he told his mother a modified tale, one where Zangetsu did pass and that Ichigo was just doing what his will asked.

Tensa’s mother was saddened by Zangetsu’s passing but allowed Tensa to leave, she said he was an adult and she had no right to keep him back, she just asked that he call her regularly. Tensa happily agreed.

He was twenty-one after all.

So Tensa packed up his bags and followed after Ichigo, Ichigo wasn’t hiding anything, had told him everything he was doing, explained how dangerous it was. Explained that he was going to train him even if he didn’t want to get involved.

Tensa agreed.

His first task in helping was very easy. He had some work experience as a waiter so it was a very easy in for them. The party planers were more than happy to accept his application for the job.

Getting Ichigo in was even easier. 

All he had to do was give Ichigo his key card for the party and the man had his own way of getting in. How the man did that, he wasn’t so sure and he had yet to ask.

Getting the Vincent’s attention was even easier, the man just gave him the creeps. Tensa shivered involuntary in his seat next to the window. Ichigo had put Vincent on the bed and closed the door.

The flight attendant smiled at him, like a blushing teenager. It was almost funny for Tensa as he saw the appeal in Ichigo, the man was very attractive but he was such a closed off look that the poor attendant quickly realised that she was not going to get anywhere. 

The ten-hour flight started soon after everyone was buckled in, the captain getting the plane into the air without any troubles. Tensa was excited for it was his first time flying. Ichigo just watched him with a small smile.

Three hours into the flight and their lunch was served.

In between Ichigo moved to sit next to Tensa and they softly spoke about what they would do when they got to US soil.

“Do you have anything you want to study?” Ichigo asked after taking a deep swallow of his water. Tensa sat and thought about it. He had always wanted to go either into police or maybe martial arts as he had a love for it, when he said as much Ichigo smiled.

“One of my friends owns a gym where she gives classes, I’m sure she’d love to have you there.” They then went into a discussion of how far along he was with his martial arts training. While his strongest branch of martial arts was Jujitsu he was also busy gaining belts in Karate and Hapkido, that alone seemed to please Ichigo, he revealed that he was taught Jujitsu and Hapkido as a child and continued his training all his life and his friend was looking for someone to help teach the small beginner children.

Tensa felt hopeful.

________________________________________

The weekend passed and there was news that the party had in fact been interrupted but no one knew who did it.

Vincent was the only missing person so the group felt somewhat hopeful that the man would somehow pop up.

Starkk had told Aizen and the man agreed to put a wanted tag to the man’s name so if he was found in the US he would be flagged down and brought to them, it was the best he could do.

Starkk and Shinji were down in the parking garage, the first having offered a ride home to the latter. Shinji had happily accepted. While they walked to Starkk’s car they noticed one of the overhead lights flickering insistently.

Both men’s instincts kicked in, they warily approached the flickering light only to come to a stop, both men’s jaw’s dropping in shock.

There tight to a pillar was Vincent Gilare.

The man wasn’t hurt but he seemed to be out of it, his mouth duct taped and a bow placed on top of the man’s head.

“Yo Starkk? Wanna grab a… What the fuck?” Grimmjow’s voice was near the elevator but Starkk didn’t really pick up on it. Grimmjow had seen the flickering light and moved to investigate himself.

“Isn’t that…” Grimmjow didn’t finished his question before Starkk had his phone out, a call later and the rest of the team and Aizen was down in the garage, looking at Mr. Vincent tied to the pillar. Aizen had Vincent removed from the pillar and placed in a cell, the bow falling to the ground with a small clatter.

Knowing that a piece of fabric wasn’t supposed to clatter, Ulquiorra, who was the only one of them who had gloves on, picked the bow up.

The bow was wrapped around another flash drive.

Starkk sighed and rubbed his face.

“Ulquiorra, go put that in the safe, we’ll check the contents tomorrow, we’re all too tired to be of any good. Everyone, go home.” Aizen nodded to show his agreement. Grimmjow waved Nnoitra off when he asked if Grimmjow wanted him to come along.

“Nah I’ll just grab a few beers and a take out and go home.”

Nnoitra nodded and walked to his own car, Grimmjow watching as the team finish up gathering evidence but it was clear that there wasn’t much to begin with.

Pulling into the parking lot of a small grocery store, Grimmjow idly browsed the aisles for any goodies he might want while getting the standard milk and eggs for breakfast, while was in the dairy aisle he spotted a man looking at the milks with a bored look on his face.

The man was familiar looking but Grimmjow put it off to just probably seeing the man somewhere before. The man did have a bright head of hair on him. Grimmjow couldn’t help but take in the man’s side profile and how damn attractive the man was.

Grimmjow walked closer to the man in time to see the man reaching up for a milk carton and see the man’s shirt rise up to expose his lower stomach. Grimmjow had to bite his cheek when he saw smooth skin and well-defined muscles.

When the man rightened himself he placed the milk in his basket and turned to face Grimmjow. Both men stared at each other. Grimmjow was stuck just staring at the man’s eyes. They tingled at his mind but all he could think was that this man was absolutely gorgeous.

“Uh, can I help you?” Grimmjow blinked when the man spoke to him, the man’s voice niggled at him as well but for the life of him he couldn’t recall where he had heard the voice before.

“Ichigo? Grimmjow watched as a younger male came walking closer.

“Hm?” The man Grimmjow know knew as Ichigo hummed without talking his eyes off of Grimmjow.

“Is this the brand you wanted?” Grimmjow and Ichigo both looked to see that the other male had a box of bandages and a bottle of antiseptic. Grimmjow took a second to look at the new male, he was clearly a few years younger than Ichigo, he had black hair and piercing blue eyes.

Both men had strong features and lean builds.

Ichigo nodded and held the basket out for the younger male to place the items in.

“Thank you Tensa.” Ichigo looked back at Grimmjow and pursed his lips, like he wanted to say something but he was stopping himself. “Uh, we have to go.” Ichigo did an awkward half wave and gently pulled Tensa along with him, the younger male looking over his shoulder to keep his eyes on Grimmjow before he whispered something to Ichigo. 

Grimmjow watched as Ichigo peeked over his shoulder, his amber eyes unsure looking.

The whole exchange was over in a few minutes but Grimmjow felt that it was important and he still didn’t know why.

Going on with his shopping in a daze he got his beer and snacks before he walked to the cashiers, he saw Ichigo and Tensa finishing up their purchases, he watched as the older man pick up the heavier bags, they were speaking softly about what they wanted to eat.

All the while Grimmjow couldn’t take his eyes off of Ichigo, so much so the poor cashier had to wave her hand in his face.

When he got him his dad just asked him what take away he wanted, used to Grimmjow coming home with an absent mind, thinking it was on a case and not on a man who just seemed to pull at his very being.

________________________________________

Ichigo sat in his room, the house all locked up tight and Tensa in his room getting ready for bed if the sounds were anything to go by.

Urahara and Yoruichi had come over to meet Tensa, they both clicked and grew protective of Tensa almost immediately. Yoruichi was more than happy to give Tensa the job after he explained that he wanted to work in a martial arts field and that he has finished most of his training.

It helped that Tensa had come over legally, having an American mother had given him automatic citizenship and Ichigo vouching for him also helped.

Having settled down after ‘handing’ Vincent over, Ichigo replayed the grocery store scene in his head.

Grimmjow was taller than him, he knew that but he had yet to take into an account how much physically bigger he was than him. Grimmjow was on the good side of bulky, the thoughts running through his head were making him uneasy, he didn’t know what to do about it.

He knew he fancied Grimmjow to a certain degree but again, he wasn’t sure of what to do about it.

Picking up his phone, Ichigo called the only person he knew he could call.

The phone rang a few times before it was picked up.

“Ichigo?” Isane answered, knowing well that Ichigo only called when he needed someone to talk to and with the death if Zangetsu he didn’t have many or any people he really spoke to.

“I don’t know what to do.”

________________________________________

I am so sorry for the wait, it was my brother and my own birthday this month and work got a bit heavy in its load so I tried to write when I could, I hope this made up for it.

Again, if I made a blunder somewhere please let me know.

Thank you for all the support.


	9. Chapter 9

Hello everyone, hope you all are doing well and here is chapter 9.

________________________________________

Chapter 9

“What do you mean?” Isane asked, her voice filled with worry. Out of all the people Ichigo knew, she was also informed of what Ichigo was doing, sworn to help the man as she understood that with Ichigo, this was his way of getting past his trauma. She knew she had to tell the authorities but as she saw it, Ichigo wasn’t hurting innocent people but saving them.

Something must have happened if Ichigo didn’t know what to do, the man planned everything to almost an unhealthy detail.

So, she listened as Ichigo told her about everything, the death of Zangetsu and the truths he learned from the packet of information he got, some that even shocked her but she kept silent and allowed Ichigo to babble on.

When he got to the FBI agent named Grimmjow she understood.

She listened as Ichigo explained that he got feelings he had yet to experience with Grimmjow and he didn’t know what to do about them, he knew what they meant but he was unsure.

“What do you want to do? What is the first thing that comes to mind, before you can think about it, what does your mind tell you first?” Isane asked after thinking on Ichigo’s words. She waited while the man thought about it, she wasn’t scared of Ichigo lying to her as they have made amazing progress when Ichigo was a child and she knew that they had made a strong bond and that Ichigo knew she wouldn’t lie or snitch on him.

“I-I…” Isane waited as Ichigo got the words out of his mouth with great difficultly. “The first time was just that he… made my mind think that he was safe. The second time I spotted him I just felt like… he was good and today I saw him up close and… well… I couldn’t help but think of how handsome he was.” While the words were nothing but words of a would be crush from anyone else, from Ichigo it meant that the man found someone else attractive in a dating sense for the first time since she knew him.

It was a good sign that maybe Ichigo could finally make a breakthrough in his intimate touch hurdle, it was the touchiest subject with Ichigo, he could now easily distinguish the difference between sexual and platonic touch thanks to the effort put in from Zangetsu and his friends.

“Have you had thoughts about him?” Isane didn’t have to explain what thoughts, she heard Ichigo take a loud breath before releasing it in a huff.

“Not in the beginning, just that I felt that I would be safe with him, it was more like how I feel about Urahara, I knew he wouldn’t hurt me but then… the more I watched him the more I learned about who he is and how is like in and outside of work it became more noticing how blue his eyes are and after that it was more…” Isane understood Ichigo didn’t know how to say the next part but she understood.

“Your body started to react?” She guessed softly. She heard Ichigo’s slightly panicky breaths.

“Ichigo, breath with me.” She said loud enough for him to hear and thankfully she heard Ichigo take shaky breaths with her.

“Ichigo, your mind is more than aware of who Grimmjow is and what he does for a living, he knows how sexual assault victims react, he would be the last person to force anything onto you. You have seen how he handles people who were brutalised and taken advantage of, he showed your without knowing that he can take care of you. Ichigo, do you not like the way you’re feeling? Do you feel uncomfortable with these feelings?” Isane asked, her words more to help Ichigo find reason as to why he seems attracted to Grimmjow.

And Ichigo thought about her words.

Lying down on his bed, back flat while his legs dangled off the edge.

Grimmjow was someone who worked with sexual assault victims almost on the daily and he had seen the man treat everyone with dignity and kindness, the gruff man ever getting annoyed when a victim was timid or jumpy or at the worse hostile towards him, Grimmjow really seemed to care.

“No.” His answer was simple and blunt, Isane didn’t expect anything else, she had learned to read between the lines with Ichigo and found that his one-word answers were not him being difficult but more that it was his was of showing he was undoubtably sure about his answer, that he had nothing to add to it either.

It was a habit neither she or Zangetsu could ever break, Isane had told Zangetsu that it was most likely how Ichigo was taught to answer. Ichigo had no problem asking a question but he made sure that whoever he was talking to knew that he understood by answering like he was.

“Just don’t force it.” Isane gave her last bit of advice before Ichigo ended the call after a thank you and good-bye.

Wiggling to get onto the bed properly Ichigo finally climbed into bed and sighed, and wondered.

He wondered if Grimmjow even knew that he was the reason that Ichigo had chosen their team over any other teams to give the evidence to, the man’s cocky grin and sharp blue eyes once again the last thing on his mind when slumber takes hold.

________________________________________

Grimmjow grumbled as he waited for his coffee, the line slow that morning.

He had overslept and was in a bad mood to begin with, Starkk just told him to come to work without worrying, it was the first time after all.

The fact that they had a new flash drive was motivating him to go as quickly as possible but he needed his coffee and he thought as an apology for being late he would get something for everyone else, having learned what everyone liked by now.

A dark roast with no milk for Starkk, a medium roast with almond milk for Harribel, two teas for the British folk, a dark roast with milk for Nnoitra and a sugar filled mocha for Ulquiorra. He even got some baked goods for good measure.

When he came into the room carrying drinks everyone’s eyes lit up at the prospect of good coffee and treats.

After taking their drinks and a baked good, the all ate their fill and drank their drinks before they moved to the laptop.

The flash drive already plugged in.

Ulquiorra opened the drive to see the trademark fifteen files.

Once again, a text bubble popped up.

“Dress nicely – Fifteen”

“Did he just… sign it?” Nnoitra asked somewhat confused because Fifteen never showed that it was indeed him that left the messages but no one got to answer as the folder was information to an event none of them even knew about.

“How are we supposed to get in without tickets?” Kaien asked blinking after they read bout how it was a private event that tickets were needed but actually getting the tickets were another thing.

They didn’t even know where the event was but, the fact that Fifteen was implying they should dress nice, implied that this event was very important.

Just then there was a knock at their door and a woman who delivered their packages and mail after checking it of course came in with a small box and a confused look on her face. 

“This is for you and your team sir.” Starkk knew what was in that box and acted like he was expecting it. He gave a sharp nod and accepted the box, once the woman was out the room, he opened the box to see eight tickets lying innocently in the box.

“I have found where to find tickets.” Ulquiorra said slowly, almost like he wasn’t sure what to make of what he was looking at.

Everyone looked at the screen and they all gawked.

These tickets were very expensive. $ 10 000 a ticket. There would have been no way for them to get tickets by themselves.

“Okay so clearly Fifteen is loaded somehow.” Nnoitra gruffed out. Grimmjow had to agree that just buying $ 80 000 worth of tickets so that they could be there was extreme.

But clearly the man wanted them to be there.

Why became clear when they found out what the event was hiding.

On the surface it was a company that ran a very wealthy dating service, where rich could meet rich. On the surface that was really what it was. Men and women from high standing and money could meet people who were of the same social circle.

Underneath however was a sex trafficking ring that dealt in women, young women barely out of their teens. These women were paraded in special rooms at the event, where the men who came in could do many horrible things to the women, just not scar their beauty, ‘useability’ of kill them, anything else was open.

It made their stomachs drop as Fifteen relayed his information in straight up facts, not hiding anything, the man gave the smallest detail.

They had a week to prep, only problem was that Fifteen couldn’t get a floor plan for where the event was held nor the blueprint of the building the women were kept in, it was not something he could gain access to.

The last folder was their target Andy Waller, a very famous high case lawyer’s eldest son. Nathan Waller would easily get this information passed by a judge unless they actually catch the man in on the act. A guest list proved that the man wouldn’t just be there but he was the one hosting the event.

A week prep was more than enough to get what they needed and with the help of Fifteen’s details, they would be pretty well prepared.

________________________________________

The event location turned out to be Waller jr.’s fancy ‘house’. 

It was a large mansion and it had what looked like a giant circus tent pitched beside it. The tent was where the event was held, Grimmjow taking peeks at the mansion to see that there were armed guards there, all looking very shady.

They followed their guide into the massive tent and they couldn’t help their jaws fully loosening at the inside of the tent. The inside was somewhat dark with a few large areas illuminated with a large spotlight. There were bars om either side of the tent and small cocktail tables dotted around but what really got their attention was what filled the lit-up areas.

In one spotlight there was a woman spinning around in a large metal hoop, there was another woman twisting down a pole in artful moves, a man was balancing on small platforms while on his hands and then there was the main spotlight in the middle of the tent, a man was swinging gracefully on a long strip of deep red fabric.

The fabric was one strip connected to the support beams up top so it made a u shape for the aerialist to grip and twist and almost float about.

It had Grimmjow on edge but not because he expected something, he just somehow knew that Fifteen was there in the room, he doubted Fifteen could have a sex change since they last saw him to be the female pole dancer, the man on the balancing platform seemed like a good bet as the man there moved in ways that didn’t seem all that natural.

All the performers had tight body suits and headgear paired with pained faces, to look like jesters. There were waiters walking around in skimpy circus attire as well, a ballerina here, a strong man outfit there. All things considered, on the surface, it was an amazing concept.

The fact that somewhere a woman was being brutally abused damped the glam around them.

Soon the host of the party appeared in a ring master outfit complete with a whip and a top hat. Andy Waller was a tall man, out of all the men in the photo, Waller looked the most like he would put up a fight.

Still, the group tried to appear as relaxed as possible.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you all for coming to this event. There isn’t much to say other than eat, drink, mingle and when the night ends, may you have a warm body to keep you company.” Andy’s voice was the type that grated on Grimmjow’s nerves, it wasn’t whiny as Luppi’s was but it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Their plan was to get either Grimmjow or Nnoitra into the house, where Fifteen had explained that the mansion was where the women were kept, they would need to show boredom, a lack of interest in the people around them. Entice Andy to come forward and ask what they were lacking in, then explain that they had other tastes.

Basically, get inside the house, then call for the back up that was only a few minutes away.

When the party was in full swing many men and women almost flocked to them, they were apparently the only knew ones, they explained that they were a group of wealthy friends who heard about this event and their curiosity was peaked and here they were.

They tried to drink as little as possible, taking their time with their drinks.

In the end it was Nnoitra who was singled out by Andy.

“My friend, you do look quite bored.” Andy patted Nnoitra on the arm in what Nnoitra guessed was an attempt at befriending.

Sticking to their plan, Nnoitra shrugged his arms and looked on in a bored fashion, at the men and women around him.

“No one sparking your interest?” Andy asked with a smile just touching on the sly side.

Nnoitra looked down at Andy and gave a short nod. Andy leaned closer, as close as he could to a man very much taller than him.

“Too willing?” Andy asked, his smile sly and sick, it made Nnoitra’s skin crawl. He outwardly gave a grin in return; it made Andy chuckle and jerk his head to the exit of the tent. Nnoitra nodded.

“Oh, you will have to leave your phone with a friend.” Andy gave a charming grin. Nnoitra nodded.

“I’ll meet ya at the entrance.” Nnoitra didn’t wait for a rely as he walked towards Grimmjow and the rest. They had been socialising with the other people. Standing close enough to Grimmjow that he could whisper into his ear while he handed his phone over.

“I got in, call the back up.” Grimmjow gave a grin back to keep up their facade, his friend took his phone and placed in into his pocket, while doing so activating the signal for the back-up. They would be there within ten minutes, the mansion being in such an open location made it hard for the teams to hide themselves.

Nnoitra followed Andy into the mansion, the lavish style of the foyer made him even more sick to his stomach. There people were all such suck fucks.

Nnoitra was taken upstairs where there were a few rooms down an empty hallway. Nnoitra was reminded of the hallway Fifteen had entered when he raided that trafficking house in Brittan. He was led into a room with a woman who on first glance, Nnoitra could tell she was broken. Her eyes were glassy as she sat on the edge of the bed in a skimpy dress.

The door was closed behind him with Andy cackling behind him to enjoy himself and that there were condoms on the bedside table. Nnoitra moved towards the woman slowly and with his hands raised. She only looked it him with an emotionless gaze that sent shivers down his spine. This woman was going to need a lot of help.

He just hoped their back up would come quickly.

Back in the tent, the middle spotlight performer started to do a solo performance. Everyone, including Andy who had just re-entered the tent were held captivated by the performer.

Grimmjow stood transfixed, he was closest to the middle spotlight, the team having split up to be close to the exits and the middle in case Andy wanted to make a run for it.

The performer was male and wore a body suit and heavy face paint, their hat was also jester like, the bells jingled as he moved, like liquid, it flashed a memory in Grimmjow’s mind and his eyes went wide when he looked closer and saw two yellow eyes peering down at him.

“Fifteen.” Grimmjow whispered softly as he watched the man scale the fabric in a way that should have been awkward but Fifteen did it so fluently. Grimmjow watched as Fifteen intertwined himself in the fabric before the song he was preforming to suddenly took a dark turn and the beat became thumping.

Gasps filled the room when Fifteen suddenly released his hold on the fabric and he spun his way down and just as it seemed he was going to crash into the ground, Fifteen gripped the fabric with his legs so he was hanging upside down, facing Grimmjow.

It was impossible for Grimmjow to see anything other than those two yellow eyes smiling at him, Fifteen’s face had some time of prosthetic make-up on his cheeks and chin, making them more angular than humanly possible.

Fifteen swung a little till he could reach Grimmjow and touch his hand. 

When that happened Grimmjow felt a flash drive tapped to the man’s palm. Quick fingers allowed Grimmjow to snatch it before Fifteen swung back. Grimmjow watched as Fifteen smiled and winked before the light went red.

Just then their back-up burst in and predictably Andy tried to make a run for it, he tried to run past Fifteen but the man caught him as he passed and with a twist and a flip later, Andy found himself in the fabric and Fifteen stood before him.

Grimmjow gawked when Fifteen clocked Andy in the jaw in a brutal punch. There was chaos around them. Fifteen looked behind him to see Grimmjow was still looking at him. Fifteen gave him a nod before he bolted.

Shocked at the suddenness but not surprised by the action Grimmjow ran after, Fifteen jumped and rolled to slip underneath the circus tent, he was on his feet and running before Grimmjow could get to his feet.

“Shit!” Grimmjow was impressed by how quick Fifteen could run, the man was a lot faster than him but he tried to keep Fifteen in his sights.

The man was running into what looked like a heavily wooded area.

“Wait!” Grimmjow managed to billow out. He himself stopped, hands on his knees to keep himself up as he gasped for breaths.

He watched as Fifteen stopped and looked back over his shoulder.

“When will this end?” Grimmjow asked Fifteen who half turned to face him, the man’s yellow eyes regarded him slowly, the yellow eyes flickering all over him.

“Soon.” Fifteen shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“I have one more target.” Fifteen elaborated. His eyes hardened; his face was cold as he nearly snarled his words. Grimmjow thought back to the photo and the last man in the photo who had his back to the camera.

“But you cannot help me.” Grimmjow blinked at Fifteen. Remembering he was given a flash drive.

“Then what’s on the drive?” Grimmjow asked as he heard steps coming up from behind him, taking a peek he saw it was Kaien. The two men watched as Fifteen looked off to the side, a look of guilt on his face.

“People I couldn’t save.” With that he turned and bolted, Kaien made to follow but Grimmjow kept him back. Kaien looked at Grimmjow confused.

“Let him go.” Grimmjow, Kaien looked at Grimmjow, a little betrayed.

“He said we cannot help him with the next target.” Grimmjow looked down at the flash drive in his hand.

“He said it will be over soon. What that means, I don’t know but you need to let him do what he set out to do.” Grimmjow explained, Kaien sighed and nodded, they watched as a black car sped off in the distance.

“Was that Fifteen?” Starkk asked from behind them. Both men looked behind them to see the team minus Nnoitra, behind them. Grimmjow nodded and handed the flash drive to Ulquiorra.

“What did he say?” Shinji asked, his eyes trying to follow the car as it vanishes.

“He said he has one more target but we cannot help him.” Shinji suddenly realised that they were down to the sixth man, the unknown man.

“Maybe we should show the photo to the rest?” Hiyori asked. Arms crossed over her chest. Shinji nodded and looked at Starkk for permission. The man nodded before he ordered the rest of the team to head back.

Once in the office, Shinji sent the picture to the others, it didn’t take long before Lisa replied, the phone rang and Shinji put her on speaker.

“Lisa?”

“From what I can remember, I only saw his face once. But, it was enough.” They could all hear her take a deep breath.

“I don’t know his name but he’s the leader if the group that abducted us. There were others but that man was clearly the boss.”

It all clicked then.

“Shit.” Grimmjow hissed out.

“He’s going after them now. It’s personal.” Shinji sighed after he handed the phone over to Hiyori so she could tell Lisa the rest.

“We should check what is on the drive he said it was people he couldn’t save.” Grimmjow spoke, the team around him made their way quickly to the laptop. Ulquiorra plugged the drive in and they saw that for the first time there were not fifteen files but around twenty-six, all single cases with everything Fifteen could find on them, it was a massive amount of information.

“We’re going to have to share these with other teams.” Starkk said as he left to call Aizen from his desk, the man would be down in a few minutes.

“I can see why he couldn’t save these people.” Ulquiorra said softly as he went through all the data. The rest of the group looked at the lap top and they saw it was either an organisation that was too large to take on alone or it was outside influence. 

“This must weigh heavily on his mind.” Shinji spoke softly, the room agreed. The man clearly wanted to help anyone in a bad situation but it was clear that Fifteen was only one man and he could only do so much.

“We better get to work then.” Harribel said as she took out a notepad and started writing down information.

________________________________________

In the car, Tensa looked at Ichigo as he removed the prosthetic face pieces off, the glue sticking to his face making it look painful but Ichigo just sat and removed them as he made his way back to their apartment.

Ichigo had a clean face once they reached the city, pulling pants and a shirt over his body suit. Looking as normal as normal can be.

Tensa didn’t say much as he saw Ichigo was in deep thought.

Clearly the man had a lot on his mind so he turned the car to go to one of Ichigo’s favourite restaurants, the man looked at him confused when they parked.

“Come on, you really think I would let you cook when you look like that?” Tensa smiled when Ichigo snorted but got out all the same, the two ate their meals while they talked about Tensa and how he was doing at Yoruichi’s gym.

“Doing great, the kids are fun to teach.” Tensa explained before he slurped up some of his noodles. Ichigo nodded as he did the same. In the back of Ichigo’s mind he wondered how Suì-Fēng would take the news of Tensa, Suì-Fēng was a hard woman who didn’t like to be challenged. 

She was also very possessive of Yoruichi. 

Ichigo didn’t mention it now. After they paid, they went home. Their apartment was his, the spare bedroom was now Tensa and he could decorate it as he liked. Ichigo had yet to return to Zangetsu’s apartment.

They settled in for the day, not planning on leaving the apartment for the rest of the day.

________________________________________

Nnoitra walked into the house to see Nel dancing around the kitchen making dinner and he couldn’t help but smile.

It was strained, when the back-up teams came into the house, he saw that there were many other women in the other rooms and they all looked as equally broken and it made his resolve to put these pieces of shit in the slammer where they belonged.

He stayed with the women as they were taken to hospital, he watched as some slowly seemed to realise that they were safe. The woman he was with looked around, then up at him before she started to cry. Her whole body shook as she cried into his shoulder.

Soon after one by one each woman realised that their nightmare situation was over, they were safe.

Nnoitra’s mind reminded him that these women were not out of their nightmare just yet and they had a lot of therapy ahead of them and he knew that some of these women would never heal, some would try and take their lives because the memories were just too much, the knowledge was just too much.

Nel had turned around and saw her husband with that dark look on his face and she knew that he had seen something bad, she knew the look from when her father was still an FBI agent.

Walking towards her husband, Nel reached up, standing on her tip toes to place her hand on Nnoitra’s cheek, it seemed to wake the man from his dark thoughts. He smiled at her before he gave her a kiss.

“Dinner’s almost ready so why don’t you get comfortable and when you come down so we can eat.” Nel suggested, she watched as Nnoitra look at her, his eyes taking her in but in a way her father did as well sometimes. 

It was a sad look but the look wasn’t aimed at her but from asking questions, she knew that they looked at her, happy and unharmed and they thought back to the women who were saved. It made Nel tighten her grip on her spoon as she watched Nnoitra walk up the stairs.

They ate their dinner in silence but it was a comfortable silence, Nel knew Nnoitra needed it.

“So, I have something to tell you.” Nel said after the dishes were packed into the dishwasher. Nnoitra looked at her and cocked his head to the side to show her that he was listening. Nel just smiled and walked till she stood in front of Nnoitra.

She took one of his big hands and placed it onto her stomach.

And waited.

Nnoitra looked at Nel, down at his hand then back at Nel before it clicked.

“You’re pregnant?” 

________________________________________

Heya guys, just to let you all know that while it might feel like the fic is coming to an end it is far from over. 

Thanks for all the support and if I made a mistake somewhere please let me know!


	10. Chapter 10

Hey everyone! So, this chapter is a goof bit longer and action packed.

Thanks for all the support!

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Chapter 10

For two weeks nothing exciting happened work wise, the news of Nel’s pregnancy had been met with cheers and congratulations. Nnoitra was one moment a proud soon to be father and a nervous wreck the next. Nnoitra was excited but also worried as he was a very big baby and he feared for his wife.

Nel was aware of this and had been quick to inform her gynaecologist of this and the woman had made sure that she kept in contact with her and had made more check-ups and had given Nel a strict set of rules and they had discussed that she would go on leave when she entered her third trimester and they also discussed that Nel would have a caesarean.

Unohana was more than accepting of this when she was told of the surrounding circumstances. 

Grimmjow and his father were informed of the dangers as well and made sure to call Nel and make sure she was safe and doing okay.

In the meantime, work was going as well as it could. Fifteen’s files had been a gold mine and they were still busy and with that as the time went on and two more weeks passed and the list shrunk slowly but surely but there was no news of or from Fifteen.

The public who was only fed a small amount had also noticed the man’s sudden disappearance, the public and media hounded them for the truth but there were no details to give.

Conspiracy theories started soon after, some were that the FBI had caught the man and had either sent the man to prison or killed him. The other was that the man was just tired and had moved on back into obscurity.

Both made the public hungry for more knowledge.

Kaien’s family were upset at first when they learned that Kaien had seen their missing family member but the man explained that there was nothing he could tell them and that there was truly no new news.

No one knew that the man himself was busy stalking a very unsuspecting man.

Moe Shishigawara was a new face to him, it was only from keeping such tight tabs on Tsukishima, it was by pure chance that he saw the two and learned of their connection, Moe was Tsukishima’s go to boy, the man was the only one who knew where the man was and Tsukishima was the only one who knew here Kūgo was.

Ichigo had been stalking the man for the lack of better terms, Ichigo learned all he could about what Moe did. It seemed that money wasn’t an issue for the man, must be Tsukishima who funded the him.

Moe would do all sorts of errands for the elusive right-hand man. 

Ichigo knew that Moe had to know where Tsukishima was.

So, there Ichigo was, he followed after Moe as he walked.

The man was walking with a sense of misguided swagger. He had dark hair but it was cut short on the sides with a short mohawk in the middle. His pants were baggy and littered with pockets and chains. He wore a red shirt that was torn here and there with a black high collared jacket.

Heavy clunky black boots thumped loudly on the pavement. Moe received many dirty looks from the passing people as he all but stomped his way to what Ichigo know knew was a drop off.

Moe walked down an alleyway, looking so sure about himself but Ichigo knew that the man was well trained but cocky. Cocky to a fault, a fault Ichigo was more than willing to exploit. Ichigo waited outside the building Moe was doing his drop off in. 

It was the back entrance of a restaurant. Ichigo had taken to hiding in the back entrance of an opposite business, having paid a busboy to keep the door open for him so he could hide behind it.

Once Ichigo saw Moe reappear he waited till the man walked past him. Just as Moe walked past, Ichigo struck and slowly slunk out of the door and walked up to Moe and held a cloth laced with chlorophyl over the man’s mouth and nose.

It didn’t take long before the man was slumped in his hold.

Taking out his cell, Ichigo called Tensa, the man was there with the car at the mouth of the alleyway, Ichigo readjusted his hold on Moe so it looked like he was walking a friend who had one too many drinks.

People gave him sympathetic looks as they watched Ichigo all but drag Moe to the waiting car.

Once inside the car, Ichigo took over the driving and drove the car to the industrial section, a warehouse he had bought for the sole purpose of planning and enacting his plans while also storing his gear away from his home. His guns and tech were all very safe in the warehouse.

Ichigo drove the car into the warehouse and with Tensa’s help, they got Moe into the heart of the warehouse, where a chair and ropes awaited the man.

After the man was bound, Tensa took the car keys and left, saying he would see Ichigo later.

Taking a look around the main room of the warehouse, Ichigo sat on the chair opposite the bound man. He was dressed in his Fifteen gear, mask already sitting on top of his head, ready to be dragged down when Moe started to awaken.

The room was barren and the sunlight windows were blacked out leaving the room in darkness, there was a large projection screen behind him, the projector behind Moe in the darkness ready to turn on at the click of a button.

A gruntled moan made Ichigo drag the mask down his face, he blinked a few times and watched as Moe came to. The man’s head was slumped to the side but it started to shift to the other side as he woke, the man open and closed his mouth, the sound of it clearly that of a dry mouth.

Moe however soon realised what had happened to him, his eyes grew in size and he started to look around frantically. Ichigo watched on uncaringly, he waited till Moe finally saw him.

When he did, Moe released a yell and kicked out, he fell backwards with a heavy thump.

“Really?” Ichigo couldn’t help but ask, he sighed and stood. Ichigo walked around Moe till he was standing by his head. With a heave, Ichigo rightened Moe and placed both hands on the younger man’s shoulders and placed weight down on them.

“Be a good boy, my patience is wearing very, very thin.” Ichigo hissed the last of his words into the man’s ear leaving Moe shaking.

Moe had heard about this man, had heard about how Fifteen was to be their weapon, Tsukishima had spoken how the child was on his way to be a monster.

When the child escaped on his own, Tsukishima had warned them all that the child was smart. The child would come back and seek revenge. The man knew that they had made a monster.

Now the man was sitting in front of him. 

“Let’s just cut to the chase.” Ichigo sat forward and gripped Moe by the jaw.

“Where. Is. Tsukishima.” Ichigo bit out. Moe started to shake, he idolised Tsuki, he was the man that picked him up when he was a street urchin begging for scraps. He watched with teary eyes as Fifteen stood and his hand slipped till it was around his neck.

“You have loyalty to the man but I wonder if you even know what the man did to me, made me do.” Fifteen’s hand moved to the back of his head and gripped his hair tightly, making him wince.

He watched with watery eyes as Fifteen lifted his hand to show he had a remote in his hand. It was then that the projector screen behind fifteen was seen by Moe.

His eyes went wide when the screen came to life and there was Tsuki, he watched as the man stand in a room, waiting. A child was brought in, he was no older than six. He watched as the young Fifteen was ‘trained’, how he was beaten, threatened, injured and more.

The video flicked and started anew, Tsuki was there again.

He watched as the child came again, lead by a grunt. 

Fifteen was now older, the difference was obvious. Fifteen was now silent, he just stood like he was a robot. Moe watched as a woman came in with a man. He watched shocked when Tsuki gave the eight-year-old a gun and order the child to shoot the man.

He watched shocked when Fifteen seemed to flinch and raise the gun and fire.

The screen went black and Fifteen’s masked face appeared in front of him again.

“He trained not just me but the fourteen other children, he killed three of them. Broke one’s neck, caused the other to have a heart attack and the other was shot when they tried to run.” Fifteen rose to his feet and stood over Moe.

“And then guess what happened to me. The man who bosses Tsukishima around. The man Tsukishima was around so much that the knew the man well. Tsukishima would have known what would happen and he did nothing.” Fifteen walked around him, till he stood behind him, both hands gripped the side of his head, and there he was forced to watched Kūgo rape poor Fifteen.

But what broke him was when Fifteen showed him the camera footage from the outside of the room, standing on the outside of the door. 

Was Tsukishima.

Moe cried when he saw the uncaring look on Tsuki’s face.

“I’ll tell you, but,” Moe gave an ugly sob.

“But?” Fifteen inquired.

“Don’t kill him.” Moe begged.

Fifteen looked down at Moe and he looked back up at golden eyes.

“I never planned on killing him, I want him to rot in jail. You can visit him there.” Fifteen hissed. Moe sobbed but nodded. He knew that he would cave if Fifteen started to torture him.

“He’s…”

________________________________________

Ichigo looked down at the building he was standing on, it was one of the taller buildings, it gave him a good view into the penthouse suite of the shorter building to the side.

Cold rage filled his blood, the hatred he held in his heart was his fuel.

Moe had told him everything he needed to know. He did more research and planning on his own, refusing to place all his eggs in one basket. He got the floor plan of the penthouse and stalked the rooftops a week beforehand.

And watched.

He spoke the truth about not wanting to kill Tsukishima, he would never kill them unless he had to.

Tsukishima was out at the moment, where, Ichigo wasn’t sure but it didn’t matter. Ten minutes after the man left his apartment Ichigo made his move.

Making sure his glider suit was secure. Ichigo took a deep breath before he ran for the edge of the rooftop and jumped. Arms spread wide, the fabric connecting his arms, legs and body went taunt as the wind and momentum catapulted him forwards the neighbouring building. 

The landing was hard but Ichigo rolled into it and stood up.

He landed on the glass roof and sighed.

Looking around, Ichigo saw that the glass had no type of alarm on it, he scoffed but didn’t for a second believe that a man like Tsukishima would be so stupid. He instead moved across the glass roof to the side of the penthouse.

Luckily for him, the building had one big flaw he could capitalise on.

The air vent was visible.

A few screws later and he had his way in, it was a tight squeeze but Ichigo only needed to get in.

His plans were already in place and put into action.

Ichigo used a small torch to cut the vent, it clattered to the ground, he slipped into the apartment. He knew he didn’t have long before the man would be informed of an intruder but he already had Grimmjow’s team on the way.

All he needed to do was get Kūgo’s address and he would be out.

Walking uncaringly, Ichigo walked to the man’s office and grabbed the laptop, he looked around the room and took any data storage device he could get his hands on, stuffing them into his backpack as well. He then threw each painting onto the ground, in search of a safe.

He moved to each room and threw all paintings off the wall, really uncaring of the man’s possessions.

When he came into the bedroom, he found the safe behind the small painting in the corner of the room.

Taking out a small packet of explosives, Ichigo rigged it and walked into the living room, the blast rocked the walls slightly, Ichigo rushed into the room to see the door of the safe door was blasted off and the safe was open.

He grabbed everything; he was on a time crunch.

When he got into the living room, he saw his chance and opened the glass slide doors that led to the balcony and pool.

As he stood by the door, he secured his backpack, making sure it was sealed and that none of his stolen goods would be safe and in no danger of flying off. The door opened and Ichigo looked to the side to see none other than Tsukishima.

The man looked frantic for once.

He looked at Ichigo and the look vanished and was replaced with one of understanding.

“So, you have finally decided to come after us.” He said as he stepped into the apartment, cool and collected at the surface but Ichigo picked up the glances. Ichigo just looked at the man and wondered when Grimmjow would be up.

“You should have expected it, after all you have done to me and everyone else.” Ichigo cocked his head to the side.

“You ruined so many lives and for what?” Ichigo asked, it was always something that bothered him. He turned to face Tsukishima fully, his eyes blazing. He still had his mask and contacts on, not yet ready to show his face.

“We... thought if we could have the children before the parents could influence them, we could train you all to be perfect assassins, no childish dreams of being a doctor or having silly teenager nonsense like crushes and useless school work.” Tsukishima took a few steps into the apartment, closer to Fifteen.

“You killed fourteen children. I was the sole survivor. Id’s say it was a resounding failure.” Ichigo hissed out, taking a few steps back, well aware that the pool was somewhere behind him.

“You were the reason we saw it as a success.” Tsukishima looked at the man, took in the man’s stance, the dangerous aura surrounding him, it was clear that he continued his training even after he left their care.

“You still continued in your training; it mustn’t have been that bad.” Tsukishima jumped when Ichigo barked out a harsh laughter. 

“I had no other choice, what you all did to me made me unable to return to normal society. I flinch when there is a loud bang, I constantly check for exists. I cannot sleep for more then six hours. I cannot even eat anything remotely unhealthy. I cannot build relationships the normal way.” Fifteen’s eyes narrowed into slits.

“I can’t even stomach the idea of someone touching me.” Fifteen hissed and Tsukishima knew what Fifteen was referring to, he couldn’t help the slight look of guilt that came across his face.

“You broke me.” Fifteen said loudly just as the door was busted down. Tsukishima looked behind him in shock as Starkk came in, gun aimed at him. The rest of the team came pouring in.

They all looked to see Fifteen by the glass door.

Suddenly Fifteen held up a very familiar flash drive.

“Seemed like you helped me after all.” Fifteen spoke to Grimmjow who looked between Fifteen and the flash drive.

“But the next part. Is something I need to do on my own.” Tsukishima looked at Fifteen with wide eyes.

“You’re going to face him?” Fifteen looked at Grimmjow and tossed the flash drive his way. The man scrambled to catch it. When they all looked back the saw Fifteen running towards the railing. Nnoitra who had grabbed Tsukishima watched as the rest of the squad ran and look over the railing calling out Fifteen.

Grimmjow and the rest looked down the railing and saw that the man was wearing a glider suit and was gliding away before a parachute was released.

They all turned to face Tsukishima who looked at them expectantly.

“What?” The man asked, unsure about why the people around him looked like they wanted to throttle him.

“Who is he going after?” The blue haired man came forward, his movements reminded Tsukishima of a big cat. The man’s eyes were intense and full of intent.

“I do not see how that is of any of your concern.” Tsukishima was not prepared for the punch he got to his face. Man before him, had put his whole weight into the punch, the man’s fist had collided with the side of his mouth. 

He felt a tooth come loose and fly out of his mouth. He had no time to even shake his head to get it to stop spinning when his shirt was grabbed and he was yanked to face the blue-eyed man. His eyes were filled to the brim with anger.

“Because if anything happened to that man you will not see the light of prison.” The man hissed out, his face morphing into a gruesome snarl.

Tsukishima had no idea how Fifteen had gained favour of the FBI but somehow, he knew that the man threatening him, was being truthful in his words.

________________________________________

In a dark, small room, chained to the metal table.

Tsukishima found himself sitting opposite the blue haired man, he now knew was agent Jaegerjaquez and his team leader Agent Coyote. The two men were just sitting, staring at him, like he was some pesky bug on the table.

It was irksome, slowly trying his ever-shrinking patience but he knew he had to keep his lips shut.

The door opened, and a pale man came in carrying a laptop with a closed off look. The man walked till he stood between the two seated men. Slowly, carefully so, the man who looked like he never saw the sun placed the laptop in front of the two men and pressed a few buttons.

Tsukishima watched as the two men watched the screen.

As the pale man tapped the keys on a seemingly random pattern, it became abundantly clear to Tsukishima that they were being shown something.

He knew, had kept in touch with the case of Fifteen, how he was apparently the one who helped the FBI catch many of their associates. They were all unsure as to how the man did it, how he knew of their plans, their contacts.

They had tried everything from quick plan changes, to new passwords each day and more but nothing seemed to work as all their highest clients and partners all got caught.

Now it seemed that it was his turn.

There was a long pause as the men were shown a video.

His own voice made him stiffen.

He felt dread take its hold on his bones, settling deep as he tried to breath calmly. He remembered all the days he was in charge of training Fifteen. He watched the three men’s faces as they watched the videos of Fifteen’s training.

The cries of little Fifteen rang into the room, Tsukishima knew that the video they were watching was when Fifteen had to be younger than six as Fifteen had been quick to learn that the more he cried out the worse his punishment would be.

More videos were played, he heard the voices of the older children they had kidnapped as well. It was all there and he knew very well that his face was in the video.

It also allowed him also to guess that somehow, someway, Fifteen had gotten his hands on Kūgo’s laptop. The boy probably grabbed it when he escaped. It was all Tsukishima needed to know that his time as a free man was over.

He just wondered how Fifteen knew of his secret location but it dawned on him very quickly.

Moe.

He felt uneasy, not knowing what Fifteen ad done to the man.

When the videos ran out and silence took their place, Tsukishima watched the men as they shared looks before agent Coyote sighed and rubbed his face. 

“There is no way you can talk yourself out of this one. You’re lucky that you didn’t do more to these poor children than you did.” Tsukishima didn’t say anything but he knew that the man spoke the truth as there was truly nothing he could do or say to get himself a lighter sentence except maybe…

“What if I told you the location of my boss?”

The room went deathly still, the three men looked at him in shock.

________________________________________

Ichigo packed the last of his things, his car stood outside, gear already collected from the warehouse. Tensa, Urahara and Yoruichi were sitting in the living room looking at the man like he just said that the sky was red now and that Earth had the gravitational pull of a sun.

“You did what?” Tensa asked as he stood up, his eyes blinking rapidly.

Ichigo looked over his way and sighed.

“I made you guys the sole beneficiaries of my will, just in case something happens.” Ichigo zipped his bag up and looked at the group in front of him, looking mildly confused at their shocked looks.

“Ichigo, you made it sound like you don’t expect to make it out alive.” Urahara spoke next, his head casted down, eyes serious.

Ichigo looked his way and sighed again, he picked the bag up and swung it over his shoulder.

He had what he needed.

There would be no planning as he knew he had a limited time. He had the address and that was all he needed.

“Because there is a good chance I won’t.” Ichigo answered truthfully as he walked to the door, the three stood to follow but Ichigo just looked behind him, his eyes telling he didn’t want to be followed.

He chucked the keys to the apartment to Urahara who had to reach out to catch the unexpected airborne keys. They all stood in uncertainty as they watched Ichigo close the door. They looked at each other before Urahara cursed so loudly that even Yoruichi looked at him in shock.

Nodding to himself he handed the keys to Tensa who looked at him with concern.

“What are you going to do?” Yoruichi looked at her husband, the determined look on his face was hard and stone-like.

“I am going to make sure Ichigo comes out alive.” With that Urahara took the laptop and the bag Ichigo had filled with the stolen hard drives and flash drives, and was out the door before the remaining two could say anything.

Urahara drove till he was in front of the building that housed the FBI. The guard looked at him oddly but when he said he needed to speak with Aizen regarding Fifteen, the man had called the man and when Aizen heard, he ordered Urahara to be let through immediately.

Aizen was standing at the entrance by the time Urahara made it there.

“Take me to the team that’s working on his case.” Aizen just nodded and turned, Urahara hot on his heels.

The room was in a soft murmur state when Aizen entered, everyone looked up to see Urahara walk in, the man’s serious look spoke more than any words could, but Urahara still spoke.

“I know where Fifteen is and I need you to go and make sure he does not get himself killed, I do not know what he is planning or where he is going but this will have that information on it.” Urahara handed the bag to a blonde woman who took the bag into a different room.

Just then three men entered.

“We know who Fifteen is after but the bastard wants to cut a deal.” Grimmjow talked as he entered the door but froze when he saw Urahara.

“No need, we seemed to be in luck,” Aizen motioned for Ulquiorra to go to the computer room.

“Urahara has brought tech for you to go through, make haste.” Ulquiorra nodded and speed walked to the room where Harribel was already unpacking the bag with care.

Aizen looked towards Urahara and arched a brow, Urahara knew the man wanted answers and he had to give some. He sighed and walked to a random desk and sat down with his head in his hands.

“Fifteen came into my life by sheer accident to be honest. Seventeen years ago, an operation was given to an FBI team, it went well enough but a child escaped.” As Urahara talked, Grimmjow felt himself go stiff in shock.

“A child escaped, dodging rescue by a few minutes. As the child ran, he ran into a stranger. A stranger that became a father to a broken child.” Urahara’s voice wobbled a little and most gathered that the man was no longer around.

“That child was taken under the wing of none other than Zangetsu,” Urahara looked up to see a shocked Aizen.

No one else knew who Zangetsu was besides higher ups. Infamous government hitman who was their go to man for difficult kills. He had sadly passed away a few months ago. If Zangetsu had taken in the child, then that would explain why Fifteen was such a dangerous man.” 

“Go on.”

Urahara sighed and looked at the board with their Fifteen case pictures still posted on. Standing Urahara looked at it all.

“The child was given a name. Was given a chance to put his skills to better use, it was clear that the child could never have a normal life. He was put through too much, had too many scars.” No one tried to interrupt, no one thought otherwise.

Grimmjow now knew just a fraction of what Fifteen went through, and no child could ever be expected to be normal after what he went through.

“Now a man, he set out to make those who done him wrong, to make them face justice.” Urahara looked back at Aizen before his eyes went to the remaining teams faces.

“He’s now facing the head of the beast, the monster that had done the worst damage. But, I-… Fifteen,” Urahara sighed and turned to face the room, face vulnerable and open. “Ichigo plans are not known to me but I know he had no time to plan, so he will be brash and hit hard. There is a very high chance he will not make it.”

Grimmjow and the rest felt their eyes grow at the new information, Fifteen… his name was Ichigo.

“Son of a gun.” Grimmjow whispered, he knew a little Japanese.

Ichi, one, go, five. Fifteen was a sign of his name all along. Or rather was Ichigo named after Fifteen?

“We need to find where Ichigo is headed, I fear we may already be too late.” Urahara held his head again. No one spoke but they all went to their desks and waited for Ulquiorra to find something.  
________________________________________

Ichigo sighed as he pulled the mask over his face, his breathing was slightly faster than normal, his heartbeat as well.

He was excited, he knew it.

Where he normally could keep himself calm, he didn’t care to do so now.

He had scoped the manor out, it was a large manor stuck in the middle of nowhere, much like Waller’s mansion. It suited Ichigo as help would be far away. He counted on that as he looked back and made his way down his mental checklist.

The manor had a tight security but Ichigo knew that they were not ready for what Ichigo was about to do. Unlike most of his plans, he had a getaway plan all planned but here, he had none. All he cared about was getting inside and causing a distraction at the same time.

Checking that everything was in place, before he got out of the car and looked around for a tree with a low enough branch he could cut off. Finding one with ease, he got back into the car and floored the petrol.

The car jerked forward, the sleek lines of the car helping it to move faster. Taking the branch, Ichigo wedged it between the seat and the pedal. Readjusting the wheel, Ichigo waited till the car broke through the fencing of the manor, Ichigo smirked at that.

Kūgo believed that if he kept his manor demure and unthreatening, he would remain under the radar.

His mistake was Ichigo’s in.

The car hopped and jerked as it drove over the uneven land surrounding the manor but Ichigo kept the car in line till there was no chance the car would miss.

Grabbing his bag on the passenger seat, Ichigo jumped out of the car and rolled a few times, looking up in time to see the car crashing into the side of the manor.

Grinning behind his mask, he took out the detonator in his front pocket and pressed the button.

The following explosion was glorious.

And a good chance to slip around the manor to the opposite side of the manor. Couching, Ichigo placed another pack of explosives down and armed it. Running to leave the blast zone, Ichigo placed the bag down and dug out his sword and throwing knifes alone with his two pistols.

One was for tranquilisers and the other a standard 9 mm gun. It was for dire cases.

Ichigo knew that there was no way for Kūgo to come willingly, he would fight and that would mean a fight to the death because Ichigo was never going to fall into the man’s clutches again. He also knew that Urahara had most likely taken the tech he stole from Tsukishima and had given it to Grimmjow’s team.

That meant he had an hour at most.

The manor in front of him was half burning now, it was more a mansion, Ichigo allowed himself to correct himself. The building was deceivingly built, from one angle it looked smaller than it was while the side he faced revealed it was far larger.

Taking a deep steading breath, Ichigo looked down at his watch to see he now had probably about a half an hour now, he had taken a bit longer to scout the mansion than he thought. He cursed in his head and looked up to see that there was chaos going on in the mansion, it was easy to hear.

Lifting the detonator, Ichigo pressed the button and had his unsheathed katana in hand.

The blast was smaller but it gave Ichigo his way in.

There weren’t any guards in the hallway he was in but it suited Ichigo well enough.

He rushed through the house in search of the man who tore his childhood and chance at a normal life away from him.

He encountered a few guards but they were easy to incapacitate, too easy.

Ichigo was tense quickly.

Kūgo, as it turned out, was expecting him. 

He was in what was a large empty room, it was probably used as a dining room once. The floor was shiny marble. The walls a pale grey with white plaque moulding, there was a large chandelier hanging over Kūgo’s head.

“Ah Fifteen, so you have finally decided to show yourself.” The man’s voice had Ichigo on edge, his nerves fried just by the very sound of the man’s voice.

“And what a lovely sight you make.” The man’s face split into a wide grin as he took in Fifteen in all of his splendour. He always knew that the child would grow up into a fierce adult man. He was tall, taller than he thought the child would become, he guessed around five foot eleven.

The man wore the mask they had given to him, the mask was intimidating, it was how the mask was planned to be, a symbol to fear.

Just how he had planned it all, all for one critical part, Fifteen was not under his control.

He wondered what the man looked like under the gear.

The lack of answer made him look into the eyes of the mask and he was surprised to see that Fifteen was calm, he expected hate or fear but Fifteen regarded him with cold yellow eyes.

“I must say the contacts are a nice touch.” Kūgo tried again to get Fifteen to talk.

There was a sudden snap and crash that made both men look to the side, the sound of fire and men yelling made it into the room. It seemed that the mansion was currently on fire and the remaining guards could not seem to get the fire under control.

“Quiet the entrance you made.” Kūgo said as he watched Fifteen step into the room closing the door behind him.

The man moved with the grace he had gained as a child, only it was now refined, smooth. He moved like a predator.

Both men unsheathed they weapons, Kūgo dropping the smile he held on his face as he watched Fifteen like a hawk, this was not the child they had trained. Someone else had taken the child under their wing no doubt and continued on with his training.

The first clang of metal meeting sent small sparks flying, jumping away, Ichigo looked at the man in front of him and had to swallow the rage that wanted to take over.

Kūgo hadn’t change much from the last time Ichigo had seen him, he was greying at the temples and he had fine wrinkles around his eyes and at the corners of his mouth.

It infuriated Ichigo to the point he felt like a boiling volcano, this man had clearly been living it up, still having his business to give him more money to spend. Ichigo didn’t look much onto what Kūgo had spent the vast amount of money he had.

He didn’t care.

The two men met again in a clash of swords.

Ichigo gritted his teeth, he was never overly strong, he knew Kūgo had strength over him but Ichigo was quicker and he was trained by Zangetsu.

Channelling everything Zangetsu taught him as well as imagining the man and the proud look he would give Ichigo, Ichigo became fiercer. Kūgo was clearly not expecting to have to dodge and block as quickly. The men moved in circles around the room.

One attacking while the other blocked of dodged.

It was still too early into the fight for either to start making mistakes.

The mansion however had other ideas.

Soon both men could smell the smell of burning wood and the sounds of fleeing men. They took the chance to look around and saw that smoke was slowly starting to fill the room but Ichigo gave Kūgo no chance to say anything as he attacked again.

This time claiming first blood.

Kūgo hissed as his side was delt with a nasty slice. Holding his free hand to the wound for a few seconds, Kūgo attacked Ichigo in return. It was clear Ichigo was out to kill him, the man made sure to take any advantage Kūgo gave him.

Seeing he had no other choice if he wanted to come out alive, Kūgo fought back with more powerful strikes that sent sparks flying when Ichigo dodged and the blade met the marble flooring.

The smoke started fill the room to the point where the tall ceiling started to darken with soot. Both men were now starting to breathe a little harder.

Just then the first lick of flame appeared behind Ichigo, the fire quickly consuming the wall in a matter of seconds. The men paid no mind to the growing flames. They had each other to focus on.

Ichigo was hit on the leg, it sent him to the ground, but he kept his hold on his sword, he rolled to the side to avoid another blow, getting up, was tricky but with his body pumped full of adrenaline, Ichigo paid no mind to his screaming leg.

The men traded more blows, each gaining small cuts here and there before an ominous groan filled the room, loud enough to be heard above the now roaring fire. 

Both men looked up just in time to see that the fire had moved to the ceiling and the chandelier was now in trouble, the glass and metal ceiling ornament swayed slightly before it suddenly came loose. Taking a dive, both men dove to opposite sides of the room.

The chandelier crashed onto the ground in a splinter of glass, metal and wiring. No man was spared fragments pelting their skin.

Ichigo saw this as an opportunity as he could feel his lungs start to really struggle, his mask not having an air filter.

Getting to his feet he rushed at Kūgo, blade held at the ready.

________________________________________

“Holy… shit…” Grimmjow breathed out as they neared the mansion.

It was like beacon, the sun having set a few minutes ago, the mansion was a ball of flames and there were people around it watching the mansion slowly start to crumble under the fire.

The caravan of cars stopped, two ambulances rolled up and the paramedics ushered those with smoke inhalation, there was a sound of a fire engine in the distance.

Urahara got out of the car and walked closer to the burning building looking at it with horror. 

Everyone almost jumped out of their skins when one side of the house, the part they faced while driving to the mansion, crumbled revealing that the inside of the mansion was already burning for a good while.

Grimmjow felt a lump in his throat as they all watched the mansion, knowing full well that they couldn’t enter the building, it was too dangerous.

“Ichigo!” Urahara called out in panic.

Just when all hope was lost, a figure was seen beyond the flames.

________________________________________

Ichigo rushed at Kūgo, the man having gotten to his feet as well, he looked at Ichigo rushing at him and readied his own sword before the two could collide, the building rocked and gave a groaned. The scattered glass made for a slippery surface.

When Ichigo and Kūgo met, blades grinded before feet were met with uneven footing and blade slipped.

Ichigo gasped as he felt a blade pierce his abdomen.

Kūgo watched in shock as Ichigo grabbed his sword arm, keeping his sword impaled in his body. Before he could get over his shock, Fifteen used his wrist of his sword arm to lift his mask over his face. Kūgo was met with two fierce determined eyes before said sword arm was pulled back.

Two fierce yellow eyes glared at Kūgo, he looked at the strikingly handsome face of Fifteen, the high cheekbones, strong nose and smooth skin.

Ichigo put all his energy into one more swing, his body twisting with the momentum.

Kūgo’s head rolled off his shoulder, his body going slumped.

Ichigo still held onto the blade sticking into his gut with a hiss.

Taking slow breaths, Ichigo lowered his mask back down over his face and walked to the door he came out in from. Slowly walking to the hallway, he saw the way he came into the house had collapsed. 

Hissing, Ichigo walked to the other side of the house.

It was then that he saw that that part of the mansion had collapsed and that there was a pretty open space now but he would have to walk past burning debris and still flaming walls that could crumble at any second.

Gritting his teeth, he moved, stepping over pieces of burning wooden beams and crumbled wall and furniture. Ichigo had sheathed his blade, giving him one open hand, the other still holding the blade in place. 

Ichigo could feel he was running out energy.

“Ichigo!”

Urahara.

Nodding to himself and grateful that his gear was somewhat flame resistant, Ichigo walked out of the burning mansion to see the entire FBI team behind Urahara, even Aizen was there.

In the distance Ichigo could see the flaming red of a fire engine.

Urahara was at his side the moment he cleared the burning building.

The paramedics were looking at him in horror, the sword sticking through his gut was a gruesome sight no less and he was probably losing a lot of blood. Feeling weak but at peace, Ichigo allowed himself to slip into unconsciousness. 

________________________________________

Grimmjow would tell the truth to whoever asked him, that time when Ichigo, aka Fifteen, came walking out of the burning mansion with a sword still impaled in his gut, his heart nearly burst out his chest and his voice was stuck in his throat.

When Ichigo crumbled to the floor, he moved.

So did the paramedics.

They rushed to the man’s side.

It was all a blur of movement as Grimmjow watched.

The paramedics removed the mask from Ichigo’s face and he was greeted by a familiar face. He gawked at the face lying on the ground, luckily no one paid him any mind.

Nnoitra and the rest came closer to watch helplessly as the paramedics struggled with the sword. Urahara helped them get Ichigo into an ambulance. 

“Grimmjow.” Everyone looked at Aizen.

“Go with them.” Grimmjow nodded and hopped into the ambulance just as the door closed. The driver rushed to the driver’s side and hopped into the ambulance. The ambulance’s wheels spun on the gravel before it took on, lights blaring.

A hopeless feeling settled over them as the burning mansion was tended to by the fire fighters.

________________________________________

Thank you for all the support.


	11. Chapter 11

Hello everyone, thank you for all your support, it really is what keeps me going.

________________________________________

Chapter 11

Hospitals where not a place of fond memories for Grimmjow.

He had never been in the back of an ambulance however and it was as every bit stressful as he had imagined it would be.

The paramedic was working hard to stabilize Ichigo, if the jitter jabber that the paramedic was giving to Urahara was anything to go by, he was having a hard time as Ichigo had lost a lot of blood and there was a very good chance that multiple of his organs were damaged.

Urahara was next to the paramedic, giving help where he could.

The man was tall and had a head of dark near black cornrows and a thick moustache. His thick black squared glasses constantly glared as the lights flickered over them.

Grimmjow just kept his eyes on Ichigo’s ever paling face.

Soon, to the relief of the three men, the hospital came into view, after that Urahara and Grimmjow had nothing more they could do but wait in the waiting room in tense silence. Urahara had his head in his hands, long fingers gripped messy blond hair as the man seemed to talk softly to himself.

Grimmjow didn’t listen, didn’t feel he had the right to listen as clearly Ichigo meant something to the man.

After a few minutes he took out his phone and with a single press, had someone’s number ringing.

The person answered very quickly.

Grimmjow watched as Urahara tell whoever he was talking to, to come to the hospital they were in and hung up.

It took twenty minutes before two people came into the waiting room, both looking frantic.

Grimmjow realised he recognised them both. One was the dark-skinned beauty he saw with Urahara at the fund raiser and the other was the dark-haired man he saw with Ichigo when he was in the grocery shop.

The dark-haired man saw him and moved to sit next to him but said nothing.

“Any news?” The woman asked as she sat down next to Urahara who had gone back to his head holding pose. The man sighed through his nose before he lifted his head to look at the woman.

“No.”

The woman’s eyes flicked his way, Urahara saw this and decided to do introductions.

“Grimmjow, meet my wife Yoruichi and our friend Tensa.” Tensa gave Grimmjow a small barely there-tilt of lips but Grimmjow didn’t take offence to it as it was clear that the man was scared for Ichigo.

“Who’s Ichigo to you?” Grimmjow aske out of curiosity.

“Urahara and I are Ichigo’s godparents and Tensa is the son of his adopted father so I guess you can say they are brothers.” Yoruichi gave a small sympathetic look Tensa’s way, the man was still so young and for him to lose Ichigo now would hurt him greatly.

No one said much after that, Grimmjow had a million questions on his mind, like who was Tensa to Ichigo really but he just couldn’t get the questions out of his mouth when Ichigo was in a room somewhere deeper fighting for his life.

Soon Nnoitra and the rest of the gang came in, all having worried looks on their faces. Aizen walked to sit next to Urahara and asked if they had heard anything.

“No but I think they’re more concerned with him and I am fine with that, no news now is better…” Urahara couldn’t finish the sentence, he turned to face his wife and rest his head on her shoulder. She took the man’s weight without complaint.

Two hours of silence went by before a doctor came in, there was blood on his scrubs, showing he came straight from the operation room.

Grimmjow noted that the man didn’t look stressed, he wasn’t wringing his surgical cap. Urahara stood and walked towards the doctor.

“How is he?” Urahara asked, there was a faint waver in his voice.

The whole room slumped into one relieved pile when the doctor smiled.

“It was touch and go for a few times as we fixed the damaged organs but the man is a fighter. He will be here for a while as he had suffered some serious injuries but we do not see him worsening. He will be kept in a sedated state for the remainder of the night. You should be able to visit him tomorrow.”

The doctor gave Urahara the room number and walked away after nodding his head at the thanks he received.

Aizen looked towards Urahara, the man had almost slumped forward in his wife’s arms. It was clear to everyone that had Urahara not come when he did, Ichigo would not have made it. Ichigo would have died.

“Would you mind if I posted a guard for Ichigo?” Aizen asked once the room quieted down, all eyes flashed to him when he spoke. Urahara looked confused, leaving the embrace of his wife to face his friend.

“What do you mean?” There was suspicion in the blond man’s voice. Aizen sighed and rubbed his eyes, showing that he was just as tired as the rest of them.

“This will make the news, the media hungers for any news and if we don’t tell them that Fifteen had finished his mission and is alive, we will have a riot on our hands, I will not be disclosing Ichigo’s whereabouts but there are always people who will find out and for Ichigo’s safety I feel its best we have someone guarding his room.” Aizen explained, Urahara’s suspicion was replaced with a grateful look.

“That would be for the best, that way we can return home and rest easier knowing Ichigo will be safe.” Yoruichi and Tensa both nodded in agreement.

Aizen looked Ulquiorra’s way, without being asked the man nodded his head and walked deeper into the room. Aizen faced the rest of team.

“You all go home and rest, Grimmjow you will be next on the watch list so please get some rest. The rest of you choose amongst yourselves who will take the next watches. Good night and thank you all for the great work.” The man walked out the room following after Ulquiorra, no doubt to explain to the staff. 

Urahara lowered his head, thankful that the whole ordeal was over and Ichigo could now maybe, finally heal fully.

________________________________________

Grimmjow came into the hospital with two cups of coffee.

The early autumn winds had made his face chilled and he was thankful that the hospital was warmer inside. He made his way deeper, following the directions the information desk gave him. In a matter of minutes, he was in front of the nurse’s desk and the woman on shift just gave him a tired looking smile when he asked what way he had to go.

Ichigo had been given a private room, so far it seemed not that needed but Grimmjow knew that the magazines and tabloids would be sniffing around soon enough.

Ulquiorra was reading a book when he came into the room. Looking up, Grimmjow could see that the man was tired, he handed the coffee over and the man gripped it thankfully after placing his book down.

Both men looked at the source of the soft rhythmic beeping.

Ichigo was no longer as pale as a ghost, his skin returning to the healthier but still pale skin tone. Grimmjow knew it was the man’s normal skin tone, having seen the man wide awake.

“You look tired, you should head home.” Grimmjow looked back at Ulquiorra, the man took another sip of coffee before nodding. He grabbed his things and bid a soft good-bye. Taking the man’s seat, Grimmjow looked back at Ichigo.

The man was breathing on his own, there were tubes going up his nose and there was an empty IV bag next to the bed. Taking the time and opportunity, Grimmjow took his fill of the man’s face.

Being closer now, Grimmjow could see that Ichigo had a small dusting of freckles over the bridge of his nose, they were faint, barely there. They continued over his high cheekbones, the discovery of them made the man somehow adorable to Grimmjow.

This man, who could probably kill him in ten ways from the top of his head but Grimmjow couldn’t help but think that the man was adorable.

Grimmjow’s musings were interrupted when the doctor came in, he looked Grimmjow’s way before he nodded his head in greeting but the man’s attention was on his patient. He took the clipboard and glanced at it for a few minutes before he moved to the IV bag, he gently extracted the bag before a nurse came walking into the room with an IV bag filled a clear liquid. She handed it to the doctor, the doctor clipped the bag into place before connecting it. The nurse checked Ichigo’s stats, reading them off to the doctor who wrote it down on the chart-board.

The nurse left after doing her last duties. The doctor stayed behind, looking at Grimmjow like he knew Grimmjow had questions.

“How is he doc?” Grimmjow asked.

The doctor looked at Ichigo with a look that was hard to read for Grimmjow, it wasn’t hard or judging but Grimmjow guessed that the man respected Ichigo. It wasn’t a mystery who the man was between the staff who worked on him.

They had all been given NDA’s to sign by the FBI, Aizen was very protective of their helper.

“He suffered a lot of internal damaged, the sword had damaged his liver and his intestines got cut as well so we had to clean that out and fix that, he has to be put on strong antibiotics to help fight any infection he got from that. The cut to his leg needed fixing as well as he suffered some damage from that but luckily no major artery was cut. All the other injuries were small so they just needed cleaning and bandaging.” The doctor listed off, not looking away from Grimmjow.

“I was expecting worse.” A very unexpected voice made both men look over to Ichigo who was looking at them, his head tilted their way. His voice was cracked and dry-sounding.

The doctor was at his side in an instant, small flashlight flashing into both of Ichigo’s eyes, the man just took it.

After the doctor checked him, he handed Ichigo a glass of water with a straw. After a few sips Ichigo laid back with a small sigh.

“Thank you.” Grimmjow took in the man’s voice. It was soft but deep enough to be pleasant to the ear. Ichigo listened to the doctor as he told him that he would be in the hospital for a while as he had suffered some serious internal injuries that needed monitoring as well as a possible infection.

Ichigo just nodded and thanked the doctor as he left the room.

The room stayed silent for a few seconds before Grimmjow scooted closer making Ichigo look his way.

They looked at each other for a few seconds before Grimmjow gave a grin and held his hand out.

Name’s Grimmjow but, you probably know that by now. It’s a pleasure to finally meet ya.” Grimmjow watched as Ichigo looked at him, his eyes hopping around his face, taking him in. Slowly a small smile formed on his face, it changed his serious face into something softer.

Ichigo lifted his own hand towards Grimmjow’s and shook it gently.

“Ichigo, you probably know that by now.” Ichigo joked back. Grimmjow snorted softly. 

“Been calling you that in a way, haven’t we?” Grimmjow watched as Ichigo frown a bit before he realised what Grimmjow was referring to before he himself gave a small huff of laughter.

“I was named after the number I was given.” Ichigo revealed which way it was, Grimmjow nodded but didn’t ask anything else about that time of Ichigo’s life instead he looked at the man, the man had amber eyes that he found extremely attractive, the man was just as attractive when he stood in front of a dairy aisle.

“Ya probably pretty hungry right about now.” Grimmjow commented after a while of uninterrupted staring.

Ichigo cocked his head to the side as if he had to actually think if he’s hungry or not. 

Just then, as if being summoned, the nurse stood at the door with a food tray in her hands. She wheeled the small table over Ichigo’s lap and placed the tray down. She lifted the cover and Grimmjow saw Ichigo’s face twitch mildly.

Looking down at the plate he saw that there were two breakfast sandwiches, it looked normal but Ichigo looked like was served some type of alien food. The nurse also saw the look of dare Grimmjow say it, fear on Ichigo’s face.

The man who could easily kill and escape the room was scared of a plate of food?

“Is there something wrong?” The nurse asked, her face filled with concern.

They both watched as Ichigo lifted the bun off one of the sandwiches to see that under it was two pieces of fatty bacon and greasy melted cheese. Both watched somewhat shocked as Ichigo seemed to lose colour only for it to return a little green.

Ichigo shook his head and pushed the plate away from him.

Grimmjow looked at the nurse as she took the tray utterly confused.

Just then there was a calm clearing of a throat.

Urahara stood at the door with a fond look on his face.

“Being difficult, are we?” Ichigo looked embarrassed but Urahara just came in, Yoruichi and Tensa following behind.

It was then that the nurse and Grimmjow saw that Tensa was carrying two big take-out bags.

“Can you be a dear and please just bring a clean tray?” Urahara asked the still confused nurse, but she nodded, understanding that maybe the patient had a special diet he stuck to, anything to get the man to eat.

Grimmjow looked at Urahara with a raised brow. He noticed Ichigo shift around uneasily in the corner of his eye. Urahara gave the man a small fond look before he looked at Grimmjow. Tensa and Yoruichi took the two remaining seats and just looked between the three men.

“Ichigo physically struggles to eat anything even remotely unhealthy.” Urahara said as if it explained everything and maybe it did to them but to Grimmjow it just made him have more questions. He however just nodded at the answer.

The nurse came in with a clean tray and stood by as Urahara was handed a take-out container. Inside was some poached eggs, a piece of rye toast and what looked like steamed fish. In another container was what looked like a small bowl yoghurt with some chopped fruit.

All in all, it was a meal that clearly lacked carbs and fat, something Ichigo would need to have enough energy, the lip bite of worry the nurse had on her face told Grimmjow he wasn’t the only one.

“I know he needs more than this but Ichigo physically gets sick if he eats food he was conditioned not to eat.” Urahara revealed, the nurse had a look of shock on her face while Grimmjow just barely kept it off his face. 

Well, that explained it.

The nurse’s shocked look melted away and was replaced with a look of understanding.

“He will have to have snacks in between then.” The nurse looked at Ichigo who nodded his head, a spoon in his mouth stopping him from speaking. Grimmjow was again struck but how adorable Ichigo was when he didn’t mean to be.

It made him bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from reacting.

He blinked when he was handed a take-out container of his own. He took it out of shock but Urahara just gave him a small grin.

“As a thank you.” Was all the man said, as he walked to the chair that was vacated by Tensa who was now sitting on the foot of the hospital bed.

Looking inside the container, he saw a standard egg, bacon, hash and toast breakfast. 

“Thanks.” Grimmjow said, he hadn’t gotten the chance to have breakfast so he was hungry himself.

The room was silent as they all ate. Grimmjow kept glancing at Ichigo as they all ate, the man seemed to have an easier time eating the food he was now face with but it still looked like he didn’t really take in the food, just ate it for the sake of eating.

And that made him, sad in a way.

Just the thought of little innocent Ichigo not being allowed to have a cookie? Every child deserved a good childhood but Grimmjow got the feeling that Ichigo never got that.

________________________________________

Once the food was done and the containers and tray taken away, everyone settled down.

“How are you feeling?” Tensa asked, still sitting on the bed.

Ichigo looked down at his own body as if to take in how he felt. It was odd to Grimmjow, seeing Fifteen now as a human and not some untouchable entity he seemed to be in the beginning.

Now the man seemed calm, all too human.

“I suspect if I wasn’t on morphine, I’d be in more pain but I feel fine.” Grimmjow looked at Urahara to see that the man was looking at Ichigo with an unreadable look before he nodded. It seemed that Urahara knew more about Ichigo’s signs, if Urahara believed what Ichigo said then so would Grimmjow.

Tensa perked up the before he looked at Yoruichi who also seemed to remember something.

Yoruichi bought her handbag to her lap, the bag was far larger than Grimmjow thought it needed to be but realised that there was a reason for the size of the bag.

Soon two books, a journal and a pen case were handed to a visibly happier Ichigo.

It was nice to see Ichigo be happy, he knew that the man had to be uncomfortable but he seemed to be able to ignore it.

“Grimmjow?” Urahara’s voice made Grimmjow look over to see Urahara was standing at the door, he jerked his head to the side to indicated that he wanted Grimmjow to follow.

Once in the hallway a few paces away from Ichigo’s room Urahara looked at Grimmjow with hard eyes.

“You wouldn’t happen to know what is going to happen to Ichigo?” Grimmjow sighed through his nose as he rubbed the back of his head. There had been no word from Aizen so that meant the man was still busy pulling some strings. 

The news wasn’t even broken that Fifteen was injured and in hospital.

“No, Aizen has yet to inform any of us, knowing him, he’s busy pulling some strings to keep Ichigo out of Prison.” Urahara narrowed his eyes at that. Grimmjow knew that the man was smart, he had to be if he was friends with Aizen so he knew, that Aizen’s string pulling will come with some conditions but he hoped that his boss will have Ichigo’s well-being in mind.

“Yes, I suppose that does make sense.” Urahara wasn’t angry just nervous.

Ichigo was family to him and he wanted the man to finally move on and have a life that is fairly normal.

“Just…” Urahara waivered making Grimmjow arch a brow.

“Ichigo while strong, is fragile,” Urahara sighed and rubbed his forehead. “He doesn’t like being touched suddenly and he is often jumpy around knew people so please try and keep his guard between three people so he can get used to you.” Urahara looked over Grimmjow’s shoulder at the door.

“He’s been through enough.” Urahara said softly.

Grimmjow nodded.

“Yeah, believe me that he has the full support of my team. He earned our respect long ago, and as much as he probably doesn’t want it, our sympathy too. No one is going to coddle him like he is made out of glass but he is traumatised and that leaves scars.” Urahara listened as Grimmjow talked, looking him in the eye.

He was happy to hear that Ichigo had made allies in the FBI.

Nodding both men walked back into the room to see Ichigo was talking softly to Tensa.

Grimmjow wondered again what their relationship was, they seemed close but not in a romantic type.

He remembered that Urahara had said they were like brothers, looking at them now, it was clear to Grimmjow that they acted pretty much like brothers.

Sitting down in his chair, Grimmjow looked at the two conversing men.

They both had look of elegance about them that was hard to deny. Ichigo had the longer hair of the two, Tensa’s was just short of touching his shoulders while Ichigo’s hung past his shoulder lying just past his collar bones. Tensa’s was also somewhat in between a curl and a wavy texture while Ichigo’s was straight.

“We won’t be able to come tonight.” Grimmjow tuned into the conversation. Ichigo didn’t look bothered, he just shrugged a shoulder and gave Tensa a small smile.

“That’s fine, you three have lives to live so don’t worry about me, I’ll have company.” Ichigo gestured with a hand Grimmjow’s way. Grimmjow nodded to show that Ichigo would have company at all times so technically he would not be alone even when he slept.

That seemed to ease the guilt from Tensa’s face.

After a few more minutes, visiting hours were over.

________________________________________

Grimmjow looked up from his phone when the doctor came in a few hours later. Ichigo had been quietly reading one of mystery books Tensa had brought him, Grimmjow had thought it best to give the man some quiet reading time, if he was anything like Ulquiorra when he read.

Ichigo placed the book down with the also provided bookmark in place.

“Want to check the wounds.” The doctor said softly and clearly as he walked to stand next to Ichigo, it was clear to Grimmjow that Urahara had gotten a hold of the doctor to give him a heads-up as well. 

Ichigo nodded and stayed still as the doctor came closer with a nurse following in behind. Grimmjow watched silently as they checked Ichigo’s leg first, the wound looked angry but not infected. It was a nasty wound that would leave an impressive scar but there would be no permanent damage to Ichigo’s leg.

Next was the important one, the doctor asked Ichigo to lower the top of his hospital robe, Ichigo slowly did as asked, the wound wasn’t big but, it was deep. Grimmjow’s mind flashing an image of Ichigo with a sword protruding through his gut.

“Looks good so far. No strenuous movements, we had a hard time fixing everything that was damaged inside you.” The doctor them asked Ichigo to sit forward slightly so he could check on the exit wound.

“This looks good as well.” The doctor commented and then checked his other vitals, the statoscope being used to check his breathing and the flashlight in the eyes was once again shone in Ichigo’s eyes. Once that was done, the doctor checked the IV bag and asked if Ichigo was in any pain.

Again, the man had to actually sit and think about it.

“Maybe… a little?” Ichigo looked at the doctor who looked back confused.

“Maybe?” He parroted back unsure.

Ichigo fiddled with his fingers for a few seconds before he took in a deep breath.

“I have been conditioned to ignore pain. I don’t know what’s pain level to start complaining.” Ichigo explained like he was the guilty party. The doctor hummed in thought but it was clear even he didn’t know really how to handle someone who could seemingly ignore pain.

“Well seeing as most patients need a new dosage about now…” The doctor still seemed unsure.

In the end the doctor gave Ichigo a small dosage of morphine. Enough to take the pain away but not to knock Ichigo out.

“So…” Grimmjow looked to Ichigo who was just calmly looking outside the window.

Once the man’s amber eyes settled onto him Grimmjow continued his question.

“What do you like to do for fun?” Grimmjow asked, it was a light question with no real weight on it, or so he thought. He seemed to have forgotten that Ichigo didn’t have a normal life if the small frown on Ichigo’s face was anything to go by.

“Uh..I read?” Ichigo cocked his head to the side.

“I train? That’s all… really, when I am with the others, I will sit with them as they watch TV and sometimes, I will join but it’s not really something I enjoy.” Ichigo shrugged. It was clear that the man didn’t know what fun was.

“Ever gone to an amusement park? Theme park? Carnival?” Grimmjow asked shocked as Ichigo shook his head, a look of sheepishness making the man look adorable again.

“Well, when you get released, I am going to take you to a carnival, show ya how to have fun.” Ichigo gave him a small smile but it looked strained.

“That’s if I don’t go to jail.” Grimmjow arched a brow at Ichigo.

“What makes you think ya’r goin to jail?” Ichigo gave him a ‘really?’ look, it was nice to see the man’s real facial expressions instead of that mask.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because I went against the law? I killed, Grimmjow, that’s murder.” Ichigo looked down at his fingers again. Grimmjow looked at them as well, they were long, thin but scared fingers, it was obvious to Grimmjow that Ichigo did a lot with his hands, his fingers carrying the brunt of the scars.

“What that bastard Kūgo?” Grimmjow asked, unsure where the sudden gloom over Ichigo came from.

“That is something you need not worry about.” A new voice made both men look up at Aizen, Urahara was behind him. Ichigo frowned at the man in confusion. Urahara didn’t look stressed or tense, Grimmjow noticed so either he heard what was decided or trusted Aizen that much, his money was on the first option.

Without giving Ichigo a chance to ask, both men came in and closed the door behind them.

“With some string pulling I have managed to cut you a deal that will keep you out of jail for the… murder of Kūgo Ginjo.” The tone of Aizen’s voice said he didn’t really see it as murder but more like someone just killing a cockroach.

Ichigo bit his lip and a look of utter guilt flooded his eyes.

“What about another murder?”

The room was silenced, Urahara’s eyes went wide with realisation and sadness as he suddenly understood what Ichigo was referring too.

Aizen lifted a brow like he was not fully believing that Ichigo would have killed someone else, Grimmjow had a hard time believing it as well.

“Explain.”

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Thanks for the support, you guys are amazing and I hope this was good enough.


	12. Chapter 12

I am so so so sorry about the long wait I had a lot of work to get done.

Hope this will make up for it. If I made a mistake please let me know.

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Chapter 12

“Explain.”

Aizen’s words were not harsh but soft, it screamed to Grimmjow’s ears that Aizen was not going to believe that someone like Ichigo would kill without reason.

Ichigo took in a shuddering breath, it caused Urahara to come and sit next to Ichigo, a hand placed on Ichigo’s shoulder. It was obvious that Urahara was like an uncle to Ichigo as he leaned in slightly to the touch.

“I was eight.” Ichigo’s voice was soft at first, a bit wobbly.

“I was led to a room, I thought it was just going to be a normal training day. But as I waited, it soon became apparent that it was not going to be a normal day.” Ichigo looked down at his hands, Grimmjow saw that they were shaking.

Taking a chance, Grimmjow reached over and placed his hand next to Ichigo’s, palm side up, making it clear to Ichigo that if he wanted the added support, he was welcome to it but he wouldn’t be forced. Ichigo looked at the hand before he looked up at Grimmjow.

Aizen and Urahara watched, the latter with baited breath.

Ichigo looked up the arm to look at Grimmjow.

Brown met blue as Ichigo seemed to search for something in Grimmjow’s eyes. He seemed to find what he was looking for when he looked back down to the hand on his lap before he placed his shaky hand in Grimmjow’s bigger hand.

Grimmjow gently curled his fingers around Ichigo’s, when no bad reaction came, Grimmjow gave a small squeeze to show Ichigo that he was there for him.

Beside them, it looked like Urahara had seen a miracle.

“A man was dragged in. I still remember the smell of urine and how the man stumbled as he was dragged. He was kicked to kneel and I was given a gun.” Grimmjow realised that Ichigo was starting to squeeze his hand harder and harder as he spoke. He didn’t make a peep about it.

“I knew that if I didn’t shoot, I would be punished.” Ichigo’s voice started to waver even more, the strain of the memory clearly one that still haunted Ichigo.

“So… Then the man was unmasked… I was ordered again to shoot and… I did.” Ichigo’s eyes were clenched shut, the skin around his eyes crinkling at the severity of it. It was obvious that Ichigo had never gotten over this event.

“I can still see his face. I don’t even know who he was until after I got out.”

“You found his identity?” Aizen asked softly after a few seconds.

Ichigo nodded but he was still looking down at his and Grimmjow’s hands.

“William Murry. He had a wife and two kids.” The way Ichigo said it, made it clear that Ichigo had probably watched them as well, now knowing how caring Ichigo was, Grimmjow spoke.

“You looked after them, didn’t you?” Grimmjow saw Ichigo look at him from the corner of his eye.

“Yeah, when I started to make my own money, I made three accounts, two were for his kids and the other was for the wife. I made more than enough money and Zan never allowed me to buy anything for myself at first, he said that any necessities I needed he would cover, he knew what I wanted to do and allowed me to do so.”

“You made those accounts in their names.” Grimmjow finished, knowing now that Ichigo had more than one MO.

“Yeah, I wrote to the mother that I was a friend and I wanted to help. I gave her the accounts, I watched as she read the letter.” Ichigo used his free hand to start making inconsequential patters on the back of Grimmjow’s hand.

“The two accounts for the kids were collage funds, each would become available when the kid went to college. I still keep tabs on them but…” Ichigo sighed again, it sounded tired.

“I still took their loved one.” Ichigo’s eyes took on a haunted look, it was a look, Grimmjow decided, that didn’t suit Ichigo. He squeezed Ichigo’s hand to get his attention. When Ichigo looked up to meet his gaze full on, Grimmjow finally spoke.

“What punishment would you have gotten?” Grimmjow asked, keeping his eyes locked onto Ichigo’s.

“I would have been forced to train until I couldn’t move, then get…” Ichigo paused, Urahara knew what Ichigo went through and he knew what Ichigo would say next. It was discovered later in their caring for Ichigo.

At the time all they thought Ichigo had were just some bruising and the rape but there was so much more than what they were ready for when the boy finally started to open up and tell them everything.

No one said anything to Ichigo, allowing him to come to terms with retelling the events of his childhood yet again. It was never easy for Ichigo as each time he had to think again of the times. The phantom pains he would get and the emotions that would bubble up.

The hand holding his was an anchor to him, he focused on the strong, calloused hand that was warm and solid.

“I would be whipped.” Ichigo finally revealed. The room was deathly silent.

Grimmjow clenched his jaw to make sure he wouldn’t clench his hand.

“Seeing as you were a minor,” Aizen started after a few minutes of silence, Ichigo lifted his head to meet Aizen’s eyes, the man saw the haunted look in Ichigo’s eyes and it strengthened his resolved to ensure that this man would not go to prison.

“you cannot be held accountable.” Ichigo opened his mouth but Aizen beat him to it.

“Tell me, what would have happened to the man if you had not shot him?” Aizen asked, it made Ichigo stop and lower his head in thought. He took in a deep breath and released it in what sounded like a defeated breath.

“They would have killed him.” Ichigo answered softly.

“And they would have made it worse than what you would have done, no doubt.” Aizen finished and looked Urahara’s way to see the man nodding his head softly.

“As for what is to happen to you when you are recovered.” Aizen continued and got two sets of curious eyes.

“I have given the judge all the details, I had the director of the CIA and the Commissioner of the police as well as a few military personnel. I gave them only the details they needed.” Aizen assured Ichigo when his eyes grew wide.

“They all agreed that letting someone with talents like yours go to prison, would be a crime in of itself. So…” Aizen revealed that he had brought a briefcase with him, he had placed it at the door when he had entered the room.

Taking it now, he placed it at the foot of the bed and flicked it open.

Inside were four separate folders. Aizen gave the four folders to Ichigo who had still not released Grimmjow’s hand, not that the blue haired man complained. Ichigo placed the folders down onto his lap and flipped through them all.

One was a contract from the military to basically ask him to become a hitman for hire, in a round about way to ask if he would actually start killing for them, Ichigo had only done surveillance, data collecting and espionage for them up until then.

The other was the CIA, and the other was from the police with an offer to enter the SWAT department.

Last was a contract from the FBI.

It made Ichigo look up at Aizen when he saw that the contract was bare of anything apart from Aizen’s signature. Aizen seeing this gave a small smile.

“I am giving you pick of which department you would like to join if you choose the FBI. The only team you cannot join is Grimmjow’s and that is only because the team is full.” Grimmjow gave a confused look at that as he knew well enough that their team wasn’t full. Again, Aizen saw this and explained.

“Shinji and Hiyori are being transferred.” Grimmjow blinked a few times before he gave a small smirk, he had seen the sparks between Shinji and Starkk.

“That’s… this is a lot… can I think about which one?” Ichigo asked, looking a little lost.

Aizen was more than willing to give Ichigo the time to think.

The older men left shortly after that.

Even then Ichigo didn’t let go of Grimmjow’s hand, again, Grimmjow didn’t complain.

________________________________________

Grimmjow looked up when he saw his beanpole of a best friend enter the room with three coffee cups.

“Yo.” The man greeted with a big piano grin.

Ichigo was reading through each file when Nnoitra came into the room.

Grimmjow knew that this signalled that this shift was over. He looked to Ichigo who seemed to have come to the same conclusion and was now looking at Grimmjow.

“I’ll bring ya breakfast tomorrow, ye have yer cell?” Grimmjow asked, he hadn’t really checked to see if Ichigo had a phone but the man seemed to blink when he realised, he didn’t have his phone with him. Looking around he saw that his bedside table had a drawer.

Opening it, he saw that the personal items he had on him when he was brought to the hospital were there. Meaning it was only his phone as the rest of his belongings were weapons.

Taking it out, he saw it was either dead or turned off.

Holding the power button, the phone flickered on. It was low on battery life but enough there that he could enter Grimmjow’s number and give his to Grimmjow, all the while Nnoitra was watching with a very satisfied look on his face both men missed.

Once they got that done, Grimmjow said he’d talk to the staff to see if they had a charger for him.

“Text me what you want, yeah?” Grimmjow watched as Ichigo nod with a small smile. Grimmjow stood and as he left, he reached over and squeezed Ichigo’s hand.

Nnoitra gave Grimmjow his coffee as he passed, the two greeted each other. Nnoitra moved over to Ichigo and handed one of the coffee cups to him, Ichigo blinked surprised but took the styrofoam cup none the less.

“I asked that whacky blond guy what ye liked.” Nnoitra groaned the last word as he sat down and took out his own cup, he used his long arm to easily throw away the cardboard carrier. Ichigo looked down at the cup in his hand and his curiosity got the best of him, he popped off the lid and the smell of his favourite green tea latté

A smile made its way onto his lips as he replaced the lip and took a careful sip and sighed gratefully.

“Thank you.” Nnoitra waved a floppy hand his way to wave off the thanks. It was the least he could do to. The two sat in silence as they drank their drinks and Ichigo continuing to read through all the folders. Nnoitra knew what was in them, the rest of the team knew as well as they had been bugging Starkk for updates.

A nurse came scurrying into the room. Both men watched as she grabbed the TV remote and turn the TV on, the news channel was the channel the nurse settled on and it became obvious why.

Two news anchors were busy babbling away at how Number fifteen had been found and was rushed to the hospital, there seemed to be a difference in opinion as to how Fifteen ended up in the hospital, on one side it was people saying that it was the FBI who had hurt Fifteen and the other said it was the mission that Fifteen had been reported on being on.

Ichigo snorted into his half full cup. It was clear that Ichigo didn’t care much for what the media thought.

“I bet we’ll have a snooping reporter by nightfall.” Ichigo huffed out, the nurse looked concerned but one look at Nnoitra and she seemed to calm down a little bit. Nnoitra however took it very seriously because he looked at the nurse and asked.

“Can we keep the blinds closed permanently as well as the door? Maybe also have a guard stationed a bit closer here?” The nurse nodded and went to close all the blinds shut and scampered off, closing the door behind her.

Ichigo didn’t said anything as he went back to reading.

While Nnoitra was burning to ask what Ichigo was leaning towards but kept his mouth shut and took out his phone. Soon after the same nurse came back with a phone charger. She reassured Ichigo that it was her back up and that they would get Urahara or Tensa to bring more of his things for him.

Ichigo plugged his phone into charge and allowed the phone to charge in peace.

________________________________________

Grimmjow unlocked the door and entered the home, closing and locked the door behind him Grimmjow made his way into the living room where he saw his dad watching TV the blare of news station told Grimmjow enough that the news of Fifteen probably broke finally.

Marshal looked up when his son came into the room.

“So?”

Grimmjow had told his dad everything when he got home, he knew he wasn’t actually allowed and he didn’t tell any details about Ichigo’s upbring itself they had known at the time as it wasn’t his to tell but he had told his dad of Fifteen’s name, Ichigo and how he had been picked up but Zangetsu. A name his dad actually knew, it seemed that name alone helped his father understand why Ichigo was as dangerous as he was.

“He was awake early this morning, he ate and was aware of everything around him. He explained a bit more to us and was given good news from the doc.” Grimmjow spoke as he walked to the fridge and got himself a bottle of water and a can of soda for his dad.

When he sat down, he explained what Aizen had offered, he kept Ichigo’s admitting to murder from his father. Grimmjow knew that his dad was protective of Ichigo even without never meeting the man face to face.

Marshal seemed to deflate with relief, knowing that Ichigo would not be going to prison.

Grimmjow just gave his dad a lop-sided smile before it fell.

Seeing the more sombre look on his son’s face, Marshal poked Grimmjow’s foot with his own, when Grimmjow looked his way he arched a questioning brow.

“I asked Ichigo what he does for fun, ya know, to start a conversation but dad…” Grimmjow rubbed the side of his face and looked down at the hand that held Ichigo’s earlier that day. “He has never been to a carnival, a theme park or even anything like that. He doesn’t seem to know how to be…” Grimmjow didn’t want to say normal but that was what it was in the end and Marshal knew it too.

Ichigo was lacking in good experiences and this wasn’t any blame being put on Zangetsu as they didn’t know how Ichigo was as a child, he was a touch starved, abused child. You didn’t threat them like they were fine and some could only experience things they should have as a child when they become an adult.

Marshal sighed, it sounded weary.

“Any word on the biological family?” Marshal asked, he knew through Grimmjow that Kaien was Ichigo’s nephew but other than that he didn’t really know who this family were other than what was known publicly.

They were a big family, the Shiba family held some political pull but they were in general known as a very laid-back rich family. They were known for their charities and helping hands, they were also once again thrusted into the spotlight as everyone knew that the last remaining kidnapped ‘child’ was theirs.

There had been no word from the Shiba family, their side completely silent and that of course had the media frothing at the mouths, some claiming that they didn’t care about their missing family member anymore.

________________________________________

Kaien sighed as he turned the TV off, the room was silent as he knew it would be.

“Those fuckers!” Karin suddenly burst out.

“Karin! Language.” Masaki chastised her daughter but there was no heat to her words. Karin looked to her sister to only sigh internally, they were now in their twenties but Yuzu was still such a softy, her lower lip wobbled as she tried to keep her tears at bay.

“Let it out Yuz.” Karin said softly, her sister turned and shoved her face into her sister’s shoulder and released the sobs she had tried to hold back.

Isshin was glaring at the TV like it was one of the reporters. Miyako was patting Kaien’s shoulder, her face drenched in concern for the family she had married into.

Kūkaku was gripping her glass in a white-knuckle hold. Ganju kept side eyeing the glass, waiting for the moment it would explode.

“Kaien.” Isshin almost hissed out, making said man jump a bit.

“I’m sorry Isshin, I cannot let you see him now, he’s under lock and key while he recovers. I can get a message to him but that’s it.” Kaien looked down at the ground, he hated being in the middle like he was. He hadn’t spoken a word to Ichigo, he asked Aizen if he could give his family at least a name, the man agreed but only a name.

“There must be something you can tell us?” Masaki asked, a hint of desperation tinting her voice. Kaien looked at her and sighed.

“All I can tell you is his name.” The rest of his family looked at him like he had the answers to the universe.

“His name is a play on Fifteen, Ichigo.” That was all he said, he didn’t want his family to know that Fifteen was actually the reason he was named Ichigo. I didn’t want his family to know that their family member didn’t have a name until he was eight.

The family deflated somewhat but Isshin nodded and asked for a pad of paper and a pen, a servant hurried to get the requested items.

Writing a letter, he passed it on to his wife, she wrote a small part as well before handing it back to her husband. He knew his daughters would want to write as well but he thought it best to ease their way in rather than bombard the poor man.

Once the letter was placed in an envelope, he handed it to Kaien.

________________________________________

Grimmjow came into the hospital that morning, breakfast and styrofoam cups in hand, the letter Kaien had hand delivered to him last night tucked safely in his coat pocket. Coming into the room he saw Ulquiorra sitting in the chair, book in hand.

The green-eyed man looked up as Grimmjow came in, handing Ulquiorra his cup as he walked out the door, Ichigo was awake, clearly only having woken up recently. Ichigo was blinking his eyes open and closed before he rubbed his eyes.

Grimmjow sat their food and drink down on the table next to the chair.

Moving to the door, Grimmjow closed it properly, he knew the doctor would be in soon to check on Ichigo but the door was best kept close. Seeing more awake brown eyes, Grimmjow smirked when Ichigo gave a small smile back.

“Good mornin.” Grimmjow greeted as he took out Ichigo’s breakfast, the same as the day before and a chai latté. Ichigo accepted the breakfast with a grateful smile.

They ate in silence but Grimmjow kept an eye on Ichigo but he seemed to be the same as the day before, when they finished eating Grimmjow placed the take-away containers in the paper bag and placed it on the table next to him.

“Feelin better?” Grimmjow asked as he watched Ichigo shift a bit to get into a more comfortable position. Again, Ichigo seemed to take stock of his body.

“Better than yesterday, my stitches are a bit annoying but that’s to be expected.” Ichigo shrugged and ran a hand through his hair, the fingers getting caught in some forming knots. Ichigo grimaced at his and Grimmjow felt for him.

He mentally made a note for himself to ask Urahara to bring a brush for Ichigo.

The door opened to reveal the doctor, it was obvious that the man was slightly annoyed and it became clear as to why when he closed the door extremely quickly after him, it was easy to hear why. Faintly, the two men could hear a small ruckus that sounded like people demanding information.

“Wow, I thought it would have taken them less time.” Ichigo sounded somewhat impressed.

Grimmjow snorted in amusement.

The doctor gave a strained smile, clearly annoyed by the rabble in the hospital. He came to stand next to Ichigo, he noted the food containers and nodded happily at the thought of Ichigo eating. He checked the wounds like he did the day before. He took Ichigo’s temperature and made a happy hum.

“No signs of a fever, we’ll keep you on one more IV bag with antibiotics.” The doctor dotted down on his chipboard before moving to the clipboard at the end of Ichigo’s bed. The man seemed to stall, not wanting to go out but soon enough he had to leave the room. As he left Ichigo took a peek and saw that each other the other rooms down the hall had their doors and blinds closed.

Remembering the letter, Grimmjow took it out and tapped it against his knuckles.

“Your…biological family sent this.” Grimmjow handed the letter to a blinking Ichigo.

Ichigo took the letter and opened it, it was only one paper but Ichigo read it carefully. Grimmjow watched Ichigo’s face as he read, there was no shifting in emotions, he noticed that Ichigo frowned mostly so when he did have another emotion on his face it always seemed like such a drastic change.

“Huh.” Was all Ichigo said after he reread the letter and placed it back in the envelope. Ichigo looked at the stark white paper in his hands.

“They said that they do care about me, the reason they have been keeping silent is because they don’t owe the media anything and that they would just make the whole situation worse. Which I agree with. The media have always tried to make any story they got bigger than it is.” Ichigo sighed and allowed his head to fall back onto his pillow, allowing the long column of his neck to be on display.

Grimmjow swallowed as he took in the pale skin.

“I guess this is a big story though.” Ichigo relented after a minute. Tilting his head down, Grimmjow looked at Ichigo to see the man didn’t seem all that bothered.

“What are you going to do about your family?” Grimmjow couldn’t help but ask. Ichigo looked at Grimmjow, his eyes showing he was thinking.

“I don’t really know. I mean, I am a stranger to them and they are strangers to me.” Ichigo seemed conflicted and again, Grimmjow didn’t like the look on the freckled face. So, he reached out and gently wrapped his hand around Ichigo’s, gaining the man’s attention.

“You don’t need to do anything you don’t want to. You can now start a life without that fucker’s shadow hanging over you. If you don’t want to meet with them, you don’t.” Grimmjow didn’t look down when Ichigo squeezed his hand at the mere suggestion of Kūgo but Ichigo’s face, his gaze was locked onto his.

Ichigo looked at him for a few seconds before a small smile replaced the frown on his face for a few seconds.

“Thank you.” Ichigo kept his grip on Grimmjow’s hand for a minute longer before he released the hand so Grimmjow could take out his phone.

“How is your father doing?” Grimmjow looked up at Ichigo shocked, seeing the look, Ichigo smirked back at Grimmjow, it made Grimmjow chuckle a bit before he put his phone away.

“He’s doing better know, you escaping stuck with him. Now knowing you got picked up and didn’t suffer any longer, it eased something. It was like a weight was off his shoulders.” Grimmjow watched as Ichigo played with his fingers again, the letter now in the drawer.

“I can still remember that night.” Ichigo revealed.

Grimmjow scooted the chair closer and held his hand out again, giving Ichigo the choice, a choice Ichigo took all too happily.

Ichigo told Grimmjow everything, in fine detail, revealing just how scarring the event was.

“When the FBI came into the building, I used the blood from by wrists to slip out. I scoured the room, found the laptop, my training kicked in and I grabbed it. In my search for the key to the filing cabinet I knocked the cigar into the trashcan and that set the paper in it on fire.”

Grimmjow nodded, understanding, finally how the fire started.

“As I got up the filing cabinet, I found my file, grabbed that too and just as I had the laptop bag out the window your dad came busting through.” Ichigo’s lips twitched.

“All I can make out about him were his eyes.” Ichigo lifted his free hand, his index finger resting just under Grimmjow’s left eye.

“They looked just like yours.” Ichigo whispered.

Grimmjow allowed Ichigo’s finger trail over his nose to rest below his right eye.

“When I looked at what team I wanted to send the information to, I found you. I learned all I could about you. Found that you cared about the victims, you’re the reason I chose your team.” Ichigo revealed, Grimmjow listening with wide eyes.

“You…” Ichigo bit his lip and didn’t that just do funny things to Grimmjow’s stomach.

“I feel safe around you.” Ichigo revealed.

________________________________________

Again I am so sorry about the delay and I hope this made up for it.


End file.
